Agrawal B, Kumar R. Symbiotic chemo- and immuno-therapy for hepatitis B and C viruses. World J Gastroenterol 2016; 22(25): 5623-5626 [PMID: 27433078 DOI: 10.3748/wjg.v22.i25.5623]
Corresponding Author of This Article
Dr. Rakesh Kumar, Professor, Department of Laboratory Medicine and Pathology, Faculty of Medicine and Dentistry, University of Alberta, 116 St and 85 Ave, Edmonton, AB T6G 2R3, Canada. rkumar@ualberta.ca
Research Domain of This Article
Infectious Diseases
Article-Type of This Article
Editorial
Open-Access Policy of This Article
This article is an open-access article which was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
World J Gastroenterol. Jul 7, 2016; 22(25): 5623-5626 Published online Jul 7, 2016. doi: 10.3748/wjg.v22.i25.5623
Symbiotic chemo- and immuno-therapy for hepatitis B and C viruses
Babita Agrawal, Rakesh Kumar
Babita Agrawal, Department of Surgery, Faculty of Medicine and Dentistry, University of Alberta, Edmonton, AB T6G 2R3, Canada
Rakesh Kumar, Department of Laboratory Medicine and Pathology, Faculty of Medicine and Dentistry, University of Alberta, Edmonton, AB T6G 2R3, Canada
Author contributions: Agrawal B and Kumar R wrote the manuscript.
Conflict-of-interest statement: Agrawal B and Kumar R have no conflict of interest to declare.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article which was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Correspondence to: Dr. Rakesh Kumar, Professor, Department of Laboratory Medicine and Pathology, Faculty of Medicine and Dentistry, University of Alberta, 116 St and 85 Ave, Edmonton, AB T6G 2R3, Canada. rkumar@ualberta.ca
Telephone: +1-780-4927545
Received: May 4, 2016 Peer-review started: May 4, 2016 First decision: May 27, 2016 Revised: May 31, 2016 Accepted: June 13, 2016 Article in press: June 13, 2016 Published online: July 7, 2016
Core Tip
Core tip: Immune related mechanisms have been shown to eliminate both Hepatitis B and C viruses (HBV and HCV) from chronically infected host cells via non-cytolytic mechanisms. Current direct-acting antivirals against replication of both HBV and HCV are effective and provide significant viral suppression in a relatively short period of time. This time window should be harnessed to target host-mediated immune mechanisms to clear the host of the infection. This strategy would lead to a significant reduction in cost, duration, side effects and development of resistance associated with direct-acting antivirals therapy. In summary, regimens combining chemo- and immuno-therapy must be used in a mutually beneficial manner to eradicate HBV and/or HCV from a host.
