Transgenic Hepatitis B Virus Mouse Model in the Study of Chemotherapy

Much of the knowledge about hepatitis B virus (HBV) has been obtained from the infection of natural hosts with nonhuman hepatitis viruses that possess similar characteristics to HBV, such as in the duck and woodchuck. Transgenic mouse models have also been valuable in recent years for studying the biology of the virus (1 –7 ) and for evaluating antiviral compounds (3 ,8 –11 ). The development of the transgenic mouse model carrying the infectious HBV genome has been motivated in part by the expense and minimal availability of the HBV chimpanzee model, and the absence of more convenient, small non-primate animal models that can be infected with HBV.