Progress in DNA vaccination against HBV infection

Abstract

Chronic HBV infection remains a leading cause of serious liver disease and hepatocellular carcinoma in spite of the existence of an effective preventive vaccine. Although the actual antiviral treatments have greatly improved, they only rarely clear viral infection. In this regard, therapeutic DNA vaccination appears to have great promise to stimulate and restore the impaired immune responses in chronic HBV carriers. This review examines preclinical studies of preventive and therapeutic DNA vaccines in different animal models (mouse, woodchuck and duck) and the first clinical studies in chronically infected patients. We also focused on different approaches aimed at enhancing the effectiveness of DNA vaccines such as combination therapy with antiviral drugs and in vivo DNA electroporation.