Wilson Rachel, Purcell Damian, Netter Hans J, Revill Peter A
Victorian Infectious Diseases Reference Laboratory, North Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.
Antivir Ther. 2009;14(7):879-89. doi: 10.3851/IMP1424.
Hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection is a global human health problem, with an estimated 350 million people having chronic hepatitis B (CHB) infection worldwide. The majority of infections acquired during adulthood are resolved without intervention; however, infections acquired at birth or during early childhood have a 90% chance of progressing to CHB, leading to a host of adverse effects on the liver, including cirrhosis and cancer. CHB is currently treated with a combination of cytokines and/or nucleoside/nucleotide analogues; however, adverse side effects to cytokine therapy and the selection of resistance mutations to nucleoside analogues often abrogate the efficacy of treatment. The recent discovery that small interfering RNA and microRNA are active in mammalian cells suggests it might be possible to supplement existing HBV therapies with small RNA-based therapeutic(s).
乙型肝炎病毒（HBV）感染是一个全球性的人类健康问题，据估计全球有3.5亿人患有慢性乙型肝炎（CHB）。大多数在成年期获得的感染无需干预即可自行痊愈；然而，在出生时或幼儿期获得的感染有90%的几率发展为CHB，从而对肝脏产生一系列不良影响，包括肝硬化和癌症。目前，CHB的治疗采用细胞因子和/或核苷/核苷酸类似物联合使用；然而，细胞因子疗法的不良副作用以及核苷类似物耐药突变的产生常常会削弱治疗效果。最近发现小干扰RNA和微小RNA在哺乳动物细胞中具有活性，这表明有可能用基于小RNA的疗法来补充现有的HBV治疗方法。
