The EU-funded TherVacB project is launching a study involving 81 patients to test its experimental therapeutic vaccine against chronic hepatitis B. Unlike prophylactic vaccination, which prevents infection with the hepatitis B virus, this vaccine is only administered after the disease has broken out.
The human immune system can successfully eliminate acute hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection in about 90% of adults. The key to this is an effective, virus-specific response from B and T cells, which leads to virus control and ultimately to a cure. In chronic HBV infection, however, these B and T cell responses are barely detectable and impaired in their function.
TherVacB aims to break through this HBV-specific immune tolerance. With the help of therapeutic vaccination, antiviral B and T cell responses are to be restored in order to achieve a permanent cure for HBV.