Efficacy of hepatitis B virus ribonuclease H inhibitors, a new class of replication antagonists, in FRG human liver chimeric mice.

ABSTRACT: Chronic hepatitis B virus infection cannot be cured by current therapies, so new treatments are urgently needed. We recently identified novel inhibitors of the hepatitis B virus ribonuclease H that suppress viral replication in cell culture. Here, we employed immunodeficient FRG KO mice whose livers had been engrafted with primary human hepatocytes to ask whether ribonuclease H inhibitors can suppress hepatitis B virus replication in vivo. Humanized FRG KO mice infected with hepatitis B virus were treated for two weeks with the ribonuclease H inhibitors #110, an α-hydroxytropolone, and #208, an N-hydroxypyridinedione. Hepatitis B virus viral titers and S and e antigen plasma levels were measured. Treatment with #110 and #208 caused significant reductions in plasma viremia without affecting

SUBMITTER: Long KR 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5743599 | biostudies-literature | 2018 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature