Rome wasn’t built in a day, and neither was the International Meeting on the Molecular Biology of Hepatitis B Viruses. For 22 years, HBV scientists from around the world have met and this year’s conference – held Sept. 16-20, 2007, in Rome – attracted almost 300 participants. It was certainly one of the largest gatherings of such scientists. Could HBV be making a comeback?

This year’s meeting was chaired by Dr. Massimo Levrero, University of Rome “La Sapienza,” and Dr. Thomas Michalak, Memorial University in Canada, who are credited with putting together a very successful and stimulating program. Traditionally, the meeting is organized by a pair of thought leaders in the field, chosen by their peers two years in advance, and it rotates between the U.S. and Europe.

A special feature this year was a satellite session to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the discovery of Hepatitis Delta Virus, which was organized by Drs. John Taylor, Camille Sureau and John Casey. Since the virus was discovered by Dr. Mario Rizzetto and colleagues in Italy, it was appropriate the anniversary was celebrated in Rome.

Dr. Taylor quipped, “It is also appropriate that the satellite meeting was offered under the envelope of the main 2007 HBV Meeting as well.” (HDV uses the hepatitis B virus “envelope” to replicate.) Experts in the field, including Dr. Rizzetto, gave presentations that addressed the past, present and future of HDV research.

Rome is always a destination meeting place, but this was no Roman holiday! With more than 200 presentations, there was lots of work to be done.

The Hepatitis B Foundation is proud of its role as the official host of the International HBV Meetings since being asked by the organizers to assume this responsibility in 2006. It is a privilege because the conference continues to be the definitive international scientific meeting on hepatitis B and D viruses.

The current therapies are very impressive, but usually do not result in lasting benefits when a patient is taken off a drug and many people also do not achieve the desired milestones while being treated.

Results reported at the 2007 HBV Meeting suggest several promising new targets and innovative therapeutic strategies for chronic HBV.

Highlights in the Management of HBV
Haitao Guo, representing the Hepatitis B Foundation and Drexel Institute labs, reported that cccDNA, the mysterious and essential form of the intracellular HBV chromosome formation requires a de-proteination step that occurs within the nucleocapsid. This identifies a new vulnerability step in the HBV life cycle to be used as a target for new therapies.

Stephan Seitz, with Stephan Urban, described two distinct species of HBV virions, one that exposes the preS1 envelope protein and is infectious, and the other that buries the envelope protein, and is much less infectious. This finding could help identify new treatment targets for HBV.

Narelle Skinner, Kumar Visvanathan, working with Stephen Locarnini, described how toll receptor 2 (an important regulator of a cell’s innate immunity) is significantly down-regulated on a population of white blood cells of people with HBV infection andstimulation of the interleukin-1 receptor and toll receptor 2 on liver cells could inhibit HBV replication, which could help identify new treatment targets.

John Taylor reported a new “pseudotype virus” system for using a modified HIV particle to study the steps of liver cell binding and entry of HBV, which could help identify new treatment targets.

Highlights in HBV Drug Development
Brent Korba presented exciting new data demonstrating that NZT, a commonly used anti-infective medicine, has significant activity as an HBV antiviral showing reduced viremia and improved liver function.

Jorg Peterson reported that combination therapy with adefovir and pegylated interferon for 48 weeks, followed by adefovir alone for 96 weeks, resulted in a much better outcome than use of adefovir alone, including loss of cccDNA and increase in liver function.

Andrea Cuconati, the Hepatitis B Foundation’s research institute drug discovery project leader, introduced a newly discovered compound that specifically suppresses release of HBV surface antigen and virus from infected liver cells, which may comprise a completely new type of HBV drug for use in combination therapies.