Drug delivery systems and liver-targeting for the improved pharmacotherapy of the Hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection.

CUESTAS ML; MATHET VL; OUBIÑA JR; SOSNIK A

PHARMACEUTICAL RESEARCH

SPRINGER/PLENUM PUBLISHERS

Lugar: New York; Año: 2010 vol. 27 p. 1184 - 1202

0724-8741

Pharm Res. 2010 Jul;27(7):1184-202. Epub 2010 Mar 24. Drug delivery systems and liver targeting for the improved pharmacotherapy of the hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection. Cuestas ML, Mathet VL, Oubiña JR, Sosnik A. Source Centro para el Estudio de Hepatitis Virales, Departamento de Microbiología, Facultad de Medicina, Universidad de Buenos Aires, Paraguay 2155, Piso 11 (1121), Buenos Aires, Argentina. Abstract 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.