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World J Hepatol. May 28, 2015; 7(9): 1272-1281
Published online May 28, 2015. doi: 10.4254/wjh.v7.i9.1272
Search for a cure for chronic hepatitis B infection: How close are we?
Wah Wah Phyo, Alex Yu Sen Soh, Seng Gee Lim, Guan Huei Lee
Wah Wah Phyo, Alex Yu Sen Soh, Seng Gee Lim, Guan Huei Lee, Department of Gastroenterology and Hepatology, University Medicine Cluster, National University Hospital of Singapore, Singapore 119228, Singapore
Author contributions: Phyo WW, Soh AYS, Lim SG and Lee GH wrote the paper.
Conflict-of-interest: None of the authors of this review study has any competing financial or other interests.
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: Guan Huei Lee, Consultant, Department of Gastroenterology and Hepatology, University Medicine Cluster, National University Hospital of Singapore, 1E Kent Ridge Road, NUHS Tower Block, Level 10, Singapore 119228, Singapore. guan_huei_lee@nuhs.edu.sg
Telephone: +65-67795555 Fax: +65-67751518
Received: August 28, 2014
Peer-review started: August 30, 2014
First decision: November 27, 2014
Revised: December 19, 2014
Accepted: February 10, 2015
Article in press: February 12, 2015
Published online: May 28, 2015
Core Tip

Core tip: Current hepatitis B treatments can only control the disease, but they rarely lead to substantial rates of hepatitis B surface antigen loss and seroconversion. Several new therapeutic approaches are being developed so as to attain the elusive goal of successful functional cure of chronic hepatitis B infection.