New animal models for hepatitis C viral infection and pathogenesis studies

Pathogenesis of Epilepsy: Challenges in Animal Models

  Epilepsy is one of the most common chronic disorders affecting individuals of all ages. A greater understanding of pathogenesis in epilepsy will likely provide the basis fundamental for development of new antiepileptic therapies that aim to prevent the epileptogenesis process or modify the progression of epilepsy in addition to treatment of epilepsy symptomatically. Therefore, severa...

New animal models of hepatitis B and C.

The narrow host range of infection and lack of suitable tissue culture systems for the propagation of hepatitis B and C viruses are limitations that have prevented a more thorough understanding of persistent infection and the pathogenesis of chronic liver disease. With hepatitis B virus (HBV), this lack of knowledge has been partially overcome by the discovery and characterization of HBV-like v...

New animal models for autoimmune hepatitis.

Autoimmune hepatitis (AIH) is often diagnosed late in the disease course and usually requires lifelong immunosuppressive therapy. Unfortunately, the etiology of the disease and the mechanisms leading to the autoimmune destruction of the liver parenchyma are only poorly understood. For a long time, one reason for this lack of apprehension was the absence of reliable animal models with a chronic ...

Merging models of hepatitis C virus pathogenesis.

Chronic hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection is one of the major causes for development of liver cirrhosis and end-stage liver disease. This article reviews two contrasting models of HCV pathogenesis, discusses the merits of each, and presents a rationale for combining the two models into one. Any successful model of HCV pathogenesis must explain how the characteristic features of cirrhosis and en...

New expensive treatments for hepatitis C infection.