TY - JOUR
T1 - Drug delivery systems and liver targeting for the improved pharmacotherapy of the hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection
AU - Cuestas, María L.
AU - Mathet, Verónica L.
AU - Oubiña, José R.
AU - Sosnik, Alejandro
N1 - Funding Information:
This work was partially supported by the University of Buenos Aires (Grant UBACyT B424). MLC thanks a PhD scholarship of the University of Buenos Aires.
PY - 2010/7
Y1 - 2010/7
N2 - In spite of the progress made in vaccine and antiviral therapy development, hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection is still the most common cause of liver cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma, with more than 400 million people chronically infected worldwide. Antiviral therapy with nucleos(t)ide analogues and/or immunomodulating peptides is the only option to control and prevent the progression of the disease in chronic hepatitis B (CHB)-infected patients. So far, the current antiviral monotherapy remains unsatisfactory because of the low efficacy and the development of drug resistance mutants. Moreover, viral rebound is frequently observed following therapy cessation, since covalent closed circular DNA (cccDNA) is not removed from hepatocytes by antiviral therapy. First, this review describes the current pharmacotherapy for the management of CHB and the new drug candidates being investigated. Then, the challenges in the development of drug delivery systems for the targeting of antiviral drugs to the liver parenchyma are discussed. Finally, perspectives in the design of a more efficient pharmacotherapy to eradicate the virus from the host are addressed.
AB - In spite of the progress made in vaccine and antiviral therapy development, hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection is still the most common cause of liver cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma, with more than 400 million people chronically infected worldwide. Antiviral therapy with nucleos(t)ide analogues and/or immunomodulating peptides is the only option to control and prevent the progression of the disease in chronic hepatitis B (CHB)-infected patients. So far, the current antiviral monotherapy remains unsatisfactory because of the low efficacy and the development of drug resistance mutants. Moreover, viral rebound is frequently observed following therapy cessation, since covalent closed circular DNA (cccDNA) is not removed from hepatocytes by antiviral therapy. First, this review describes the current pharmacotherapy for the management of CHB and the new drug candidates being investigated. Then, the challenges in the development of drug delivery systems for the targeting of antiviral drugs to the liver parenchyma are discussed. Finally, perspectives in the design of a more efficient pharmacotherapy to eradicate the virus from the host are addressed.
KW - Antiviral pharmacotherapy
KW - Drug delivery systems
KW - Hepatitis B virus (HBV)
KW - Liver targeting
KW - Nanotechnology
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=77953609047&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1007/s11095-010-0112-z
DO - 10.1007/s11095-010-0112-z
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AN - SCOPUS:77953609047
SN - 0724-8741
VL - 27
SP - 1184
EP - 1202
JO - Pharmaceutical Research
JF - Pharmaceutical Research
IS - 7
ER -
