Hepatitis B virus is a small DNA virus that affects 400 million people worldwide. The virus infects the liver and previous studies, done in tissue culture and in animals, have shown that viral replication is affected by metabolic changes occurring in the liver. Specifically, starvation induces HBV gene expression and replication, in parallel to the activation of the gluconeogenesis response, and feeding attenuates viral activity. In this study we are going to recruit HBV patients with detectable viremia and analyze their viral load after an over night starvation versus after a morning meal. Our hypothesis is that following an over-night starvation viral load will be higher than that in the fed state.
Study Type
INTERVENTIONAL
Allocation
NA
Purpose
BASIC_SCIENCE
Masking
NONE
Enrollment
60
HBV viral load will be analyzed after over-night starvation versus following a morning meal
A change in the levels of hepatitis B viremia (HBV viral load) between starvation and fed states
Time frame: Following an over-night (8-12hours) starvation versus following a morning meal. 6 visits overall, one visit every 2 weeks (12 weeks over all).
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