The Role of Sodium-taurocholate Co-transporting Polypeptide as a Receptor during HBV Infection

ABSTRACT

According to World Health Organization, more than 200 million people suffer with chronic hepatitis caused by Hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection worldwide. Chronic hepatitis B causes various complications including liver cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma and approximately 0.5~4.2 million deaths occur annually due to HBV infection. Current therapies such as antivirals and vaccine are often hampered by drug intolerance, side effects, and long-time medication, therefore, the development of powerful anti-HBV drugs is demanded. Recently, sodium taurocholate co-transporting polypeptide (NTCP) receptor was revealed to play a pivotal role in HBV entry into hepatocytes. Cell lines transfected with NTCP receptor enables to analyze HBV life cycle by inducing HBV infection stably, but in vivo models still have some limitations such as high costs, restrictive differentiation, and unveiled cofactors related to human NTCP. Therefore, it requires well-established in vivo models to develop and evaluate novel therapeutic agents targeting NTCP receptor, and viral entry inhibitors that inhibit the early step of viral infection are potent sufficient to substitute for existing antivirals.