Virion half-life in chronic hepatitis B virus infection is strongly correlated with viral load

Little is known about the mechanisms determining clearance rates of hepatitis B virus (HBV) in chronically infected individuals. Mathematical modeling of viral kinetics may reveal new aspects of this disease. During chronic infection, the rates of viral production and clearance are in balance and determine virion half-life. Methods: Using the relationship between intracellular relaxed circular DNA (rcDNA) and extracellular virions in blood, we performed viral dynamic analysis by quantifying viral loads in serum and in the liver of both treatment naïve chronically HBV-infected patients (N=80), and immunodeficient…