Drug Discovery and Vaccine Development in Viral Hepatitis: An Overview

Abstract

Viral hepatitis continues to be a prime health challenge globally, leading to significant mortality due to hepatic inflammation, cirrhosis and hepatic carcinoma. It is classified into 5 variants, namely Hepatitis A-E, depending on the causative virus variants. Our review summarises the incidence of viral hepatitis, its variants and elucidates the advances made in the field of drug discovery and vaccine development against hepatitis viruses. Hepatitis drug discovery has evolved from conventional immunotherapies to direct-acting antivirals. Significant developments in the understanding of viral entry inhibition, disruption of viral capsid assembly, viral RNA downregulation and efficient regulation of host-virus interactions have contributed to the birth of newer drug therapies for hepatitis. However, the viral genetic composition has posed a barrier to therapy development. The contribution of hepatitis vaccines also has taken centre stage in the treatment of hepatitis. Even though they have demonstrated good clinical efficacy, they have been ineffective in patients infected with hepatitis. This has led to the development of therapeutic vaccines that have shown significant benefits in infected individuals. Corroborating this evidence, we believe that even though the existing drug therapies have managed to reduce the incidence of Hepatitis, further research in this direction is warranted.