The Tupaia Model for the Study of Hepatitis B Virus: Direct Infection and HBV Genome Transduction of Primary Tupaia Hepatocytes
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With an estimated 350 million chronic carriers, hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection still represents a global health care problem. In particular, HBV is the most common cause of hepatocellular carcinoma worldwide. Replication of HBV has been extensively studied in transfected hepatoma cells, yet studies on early steps of viral infection are scarce. This is due to the fact that currently available permanent cell lines are not permissive for HBV infection, and human hepatocyte resources are limited. In this context the Asian tree shrew (
Tupaia belangeri
) has gained increasing interest. Tupaias are squirrel-sized animals closely related to primates (Fig. 1 ). Earlier studies suggested that they can be experimentally infected with human herpes simplex virus (HSV) (
1
), hepatitis B virus (
2
,
3
), and hepatitis C virus (HCV) (
4
). However, infection rates in vivo are generally very low for HBV and HCV.
Fig. 1.
An adult
Tupaia belangeri
from the colony held at the author’s institution. The actual size of the animal’s body is approx 15 cm.
