Analysis and phenotyping of Hepatitis B virus-encoded proteins in the development of liver cancer

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) represents the 3rd most common cause for cancer related death world wide and chronic Hepatitis B (HBV) and Hepatitis C (HCV) infections represent by far the most common risk factors driving hepatocarcinogenesis. Already existing mouse models partially resemble inflammation-driven hepatocarcinogenesis however do not allow discrimination of direct HBV-induced carcinogenic effects from inflammation-induced carcinogenesis. Here we describe two HBV-transgenic (HBVtg) mouse models as pre-clinical tools to identify molecular and cellular signatures and investigate the involvement of viral…