Abstract

With more than 240 million people infected, hepatitis B virus (HBV) is a major health concern. The inability to mimic the complexity of the liver using cell lines and regular primary human hepatocyte (PHH) cultures pose significant limitations for studying host/pathogen interactions. Here, we describe a 3D microfluidic PHH system permissive to HBV infection, which can be maintained for at least 40 days. This system enables the recapitulation of all steps of the HBV life cycle, including the replication of patient-derived HBV and the maintenance of HBV cccDNA. We show that innate immune and cytokine responses following infection with HBV mimic those observed in HBV-infected patients, thus allowing the dissection of pathways important for immune evasion and validation of biomarkers. Additionally, we demonstrate that the co-culture of PHH with other non-parenchymal cells enables the identification of the cellular origin of immune effectors, thus providing a valuable preclinical platform for HBV research.

Details

Title
3D microfluidic liver cultures as a physiological preclinical tool for hepatitis B virus infection
Author
Ortega-Prieto, A M 1 ; Skelton, J K 1 ; Wai, S N 2 ; Large, E 3 ; Lussignol, M 4 ; Vizcay-Barrena, G 5 ; Hughes, D 3 ; Fleck, R A 5 ; Thursz, M 6 ; Catanese, M T 4 ; Dorner, M 1 

 Section of Virology, Department of Medicine, Imperial College London, London, UK 
 Section of Virology, Department of Medicine, Imperial College London, London, UK; Section of Hepatology, Department of Medicine, Imperial College London, London, UK 
 CN Bio Innovations Ltd, Welwyn Garden City, UK 
 Department of Infectious Diseases, King’s College London, London, UK 
 Centre For Ultrastructural Imaging, King’s College London, London, UK 
 Section of Hepatology, Department of Medicine, Imperial College London, London, UK 
Pages
1-15
Publication year
2018
Publication date
Feb 2018
Publisher
Nature Publishing Group
e-ISSN
20411723
Source type
Scholarly Journal
Language of publication
English
ProQuest document ID
2002200504
Copyright
© 2018. This work is published under http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ (the “License”). Notwithstanding the ProQuest Terms and Conditions, you may use this content in accordance with the terms of the License.