| Hepatitis B virus (HBV), the prototypic virus of the Hepadnaviridae family, induces chronic liver disease in approximately 5% of the global population and is a cause of incurable hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). The woodchuck infected with woodchuck hepatitis virus (WHV) has been validated as the most valuable natural model of HBV infection, especially in the absence of practical in vitro systems for HBV investigations. The main objectives of this study were to design and establish an in vitro experimental system for the propagation of WHV in hepatocytes and lymphoid cells and to investigate the ability of virus derived from lymphatic cells and serum to replicate in cultured woodchuck hepatocytes. In this work, both cultured woodchuck hepatocytes were shown to be susceptible to WHV infection and conditions for short-term maintenance of WHV in cultured lymphoid cells were established. In addition, highly sensitive methods for the detection of WHV genes, replicative forms of the genome and virus antigens in in vitro infected woodchuck cells were adopted and validated. (Abstract shortened by UMI.)... |
