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World J Gastroenterol. Sep 7, 2014; 20(33): 11671-11683
Published online Sep 7, 2014. doi: 10.3748/wjg.v20.i33.11671
Published online Sep 7, 2014. doi: 10.3748/wjg.v20.i33.11671
Bacteriophages and their applications in the diagnosis and treatment of hepatitis B virus infection
Babak Bakhshinejad, Majid Sadeghizadeh, Department of Genetics, Faculty of Biological Sciences, Tarbiat Modares University, Tehran 14115-111, Iran
Author contributions: Bakhshinejad B performed literature mining and wrote the manuscript; Sadeghizadeh M critically revised the manuscript.
Correspondence to: Majid Sadeghizadeh, Professor, Department of Genetics, Faculty of Biological Sciences, Tarbiat Modares University, Al-e-Ahmad, Tehran 14115-111, Iran. sadeghma@modares.ac.ir
Telephone: +98-21-82884409 Fax: +98-21-82884484
Received: October 29, 2013
Revised: February 11, 2014
Accepted: April 15, 2014
Published online: September 7, 2014
Revised: February 11, 2014
Accepted: April 15, 2014
Published online: September 7, 2014
Core Tip
Core tip: Gaining insight into the role played by bacteriophages, viruses with prokaryotic hosts, in the development of helpful diagnostic and therapeutic approaches for hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection is of paramount importance. Natural presence of bacteriophages in the human body, as a major constituent of the gut flora, creates new opportunities in directing the developed approaches towards HBV infection. Undoubtedly, exploitation of this hidden potential of bacteriophages paves the way for introduction of novel methodologies for the detection and therapy of prevalent infection of HBV.