| REVIEW ARTICLE |
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| Year : 2007 | Volume
: 4
| Issue : 1 | Page : 72-106 |
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Complementary and alternative therapies in the treatment of chronic hepatitis B
Jia-Ming Chang1, Kai-Ling Huang2
1 Division of Research and Development, Development Center for Biotechnology, Xizhi City, Taipei County, 221, R.O.C, Taiwan
2 Department of Life Sciences and Institute of Biotechnology, National Tsing Hua University, Hsinchu, 30013, R.O.C, Taiwan
Correspondence Address:
Jia-Ming Chang
Division of Research and Development, Development Center for Biotechnology, Xizhi City, Taipei County, 221 R.O.C
Taiwan
 Source of Support: None, Conflict of Interest: None  | Check |
DOI: 10.4103/0972-9747.45091
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Hepatitis B virus (HBV) infects approximately more than 350 million people worldwide, especially in Asia, Africa, southern Europe and Latin America. Except for interferon-α, most anti-HBV drugs are derived from the anti-herpes and anti-HIV drugs. Because of the high cost of hepatitis B medications, herbs-also called 'complementary and alternative therapies' in modern Western science-are widely used for treatment of chronic hepatitis B in developing countries. Herbals confer their activities not only by inhibiting HBV secretion but also by building up immunity against viruses. After studying the anti-HBV mechanism of herbs, scientists were encouraged to find that novel anti-HBV drugs target viral secretion, whereas nucleoside analogues target viral polymerase. The complementary and alternative anti-HBV therapies published in scientific peer-reviewed journals are reviewed and discussed in this article. |
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