Hepatitis B Core-Related Antigen
A special issue of Viruses (ISSN 1999-4915). This special issue belongs to the section "Human Virology and Viral Diseases".
Deadline for manuscript submissions: 30 April 2025 | Viewed by 2551
Special Issue Editor
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
Hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection remains a global health problem, with an estimated 257 million people being chronically infected and at high risk of developing severe liver diseases, such as fibrosis, cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma. Current therapies can efficiently suppress virus replication and slow down disease progression, but cannot completely cure HBV infection due to the persistence of covalently closed circular DNA (cccDNA) in the nucleus of infected hepatocytes. Efforts to develop novel antivirals and to identify new biomarkers to monitor the viral activity, especially the level and activity of cccDNA, are needed to benefit the treatment of chronic hepatitis B patients.
The hepatitis B core-related antigen (HBcrAg) is defined as a composite antigen, including HBV core antigen (HBc), e antigen (HBeAg) and the precore-related antigen (PreC, also known as p22cr), which have been reported to be detected in the sera of HBV-infected patients. Of the HBcrAg mixture, the classic HBc serves as the viral structural protein to form HBV capsid and also plays regulatory roles in HBV replication and potentially in pathogenesis. It has thus emerged as a new target of antivirals like core allosteric modulators (CAMs). HBeAg, as the major component of HBcrAg in HBeAg-positive patients, is thought to be dispensable for HBV replication but plays important roles in modulating the host immune response and is clinically used as a marker reflecting the HBV replication level. Recently, HBcrAg has been widely studied in monitoring intrahepatic cccDNA and predicting outcomes of antiviral therapies, and is regarded as a potential biomarker of HBV infection and activity. However, there are still some knowledge gaps and debates in the characteristics, biological functions and detections of HBcrAg, which limits the application of HBcrAg as a serological biomarker.
In this Special Issue, we aim for research and review articles that could contribute to improving our understanding of the characteristics of HBcrAg, the roles and exact mechanisms of HBcrAg or individual components of HBcrAg in HBV replication and in HBV–host immune system interaction and thus pathogenesis. We particularly look forward to studies that focus on the accurate detection and analysis of HBcrAg and/or each HBcrAg component during HBV infection and treatment, and the roles of HBcrAg and/or individual components in monitoring HBV activity, especially intrahepatic cccDNA activity, and in predicting the treatment responses and disease progression of chronic hepatitis B.
Dr. Kuancheng Liu
Guest Editor
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Keywords
- hepatitis B virus
- core-related antigen
- HBcrAg
- HBc
- HBeAg
- PreC
- biomarker
- cccDNA activity
- pathogenesis
- disease progression
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