The Dual Role of Macrophages during Hepatitis B Infection

Hepatitis B virus (HBV) chronically infects more than 250 million individuals worldwide and is responsible for more than 800,000 deaths per year by promoting end-stage liver diseases, among which decompensated cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) (WHO, July 2020) are prominent. Studies performed in chimpanzees or in animalversion of HBV (woodchuck HBV: WHBV) highlighted the lack of immune responses against the virus upon primary infection [1,2]. Thus, HBV has been described as a “stealth” virus (i.e. a virus that does not modify/induce immune response in the cell) [1]. However, a growing number of studies describe that HBV is able to rapidly and efficiently counteract the innate immune response in a large variety of cells (hepatocytes, macrophages, Natural Killer cell...) [3]. Hereby, we focus on the role of macrophages (Mφ) during HBV infection [4].