Starved’T cells allow hepatitis B to silently infect liver

Hepatitis B stimulates processes that deprive the body's immune cells of key nutrients that they need to function, finds new UCL-led research funded by the Medical Research Council and Wellcome Trust. The work helps to explain why the immune system cannot control hepatitis B virus infection once it becomes established in the liver, and offers a target for potential curative treatments down the line. The research also offers insights into controlling the immune system, which could be useful for organ transplantation and treating auto-immune diseases. Worldwide 240 million people have chronic hepatitis B and 780,000 people die each year from the liver cirrhosis and cancer that it causes.*; existing treatments can rarely cure this infection. A preventative vaccination against the virus is available, however it is not routinely given in the UK and is of no use once you have the infection. Liver disease is the only major cause of premature death currently increasing in the UK, and hepatitis B and C are the second commonest underlying causes after alcohol. Most adults' immune systems can control hepatitis B virus within a year (acute infection), but chronic infection is common in children, particularly in newborns whose mothers carry the virus, and lasts a lifetime.