Hi everyone!
I’m Delgerbat, a PhD student working to improve how we detect the persistent form of hepatitis B virus (HBV). My research focuses on cccDNA—a small, circular DNA molecule that hides inside liver cells and keeps producing virus, even during treatment.
Why it matters:
Current treatments do not eliminate cccDNA, which is why HBV remains incurable. To find a cure, we need better tools to understand and measure it—but existing methods have not been sensitive or specific enough.
What did we develop?
We created a new test called pan-cinqPCR that:
• Detects cccDNA even at very low levels
• Works on small liver samples like fine needle aspirates (FNA), even when few cells are infected
• Applies across different HBV genotypes
Why this is exciting:
Our method can help:
• Monitor how well new treatments work
• Reveal how cccDNA behaves during infection and therapy
• Guide future treatment decisions
• Reduce the need for invasive liver biopsies
This brings us closer to an HBV cure—by ensuring every copy of cccDNA is counted, because every patient matters.
I’d love to answer your questions or chat more about hepatitis B and cccDNA!
Thanks for sharing that information and for studying HBV and all it involves.
I have had a liver biopsy many years ago. I shudder thinking about it.
You didn’t mention where you are doing your research.
Hi Caraline,
Thank you so much for your kind words! I completely understand—liver biopsies can be quite daunting, which is why part of my goal is to develop less invasive ways to study HBV, like using fine needle aspirates (FNA), which are much gentler.
Fine needle aspiration (FNA) is a minimally invasive procedure that uses a thin needle to obtain small liver tissue samples. It allows collection of sufficient hepatocytes for molecular analysis of HBV, with reduced patient discomfort and risk compared to traditional liver biopsy. This technique supports monitoring of viral persistence and treatment response with less invasiveness.
I’m based in Australia, working at the Westmead Institute for Medical Research.
Very interesting. I tried a rolling circle amplification (RCA) technique on samples with low viral loads (1 and 2 log 10), but so far I have had no success.
Yes, I have tried this technique a few times, and did not succeed either. I believe that cccDNA may be too small or too supercoiled to be efficiently amplified by RCA.
This assay is not likely to be used in the clinic, but only very specialised research. Once we optimise the assay and are sure that it detects what we think it detects, then we will publish the results in a publicly accessible journal. This will likely happen in the next year or 2.
Why it matters:
What did we develop?
Why this is exciting:
This brings us closer to an HBV cure—by ensuring every copy of cccDNA is counted, because every patient matters.
I’d love to answer your questions or chat more about hepatitis B and cccDNA!