Table 1.

General research areas identified by workshop participants that should be addressed to achieve improved understanding of the pathogenesis of chronic hepatitis B and D and to discover new breakthrough therapies.

Broad Areas of Research Action
Virology & Viral Therapeutics	Improve understanding of HBV and HDV virology; emphasize research to define the molecular mechanisms responsible for cccDNA biogenesis, homeostasis and decay; Exploit each step in the life cycle of the virus for therapeutic purposes
Immunology & non-immunological host factors	Improve understanding of adaptive and innate immunology of HBV and HDV acute, chronic, and resolved infections, and reactivation; expand research on viral and host functions influencing the viral life cycle with a goal of exploiting for therapeutic purposes
Clinical Questions	Design human-phase efficacy and toxicity trials to provide information about virology and disease mechanism and to adapt to the likely new mechanisms associated with new therapeutics
Hepatocellular carcinoma and liver cirrhosis	Improve understanding of molecular pathways leading to cirrhosis and HCC, to develop new early detection markers and new therapeutics
Hepatitis D	Improve understanding of hepatitis D molecular biology, effect upon disease progression and immunology to explore new therapeutics
Research Reagents	Develop and standardize new research reagents and systems to study HBV, HDV, and HCC for the purposes of drug discovery and development
Other	Establish new, and expand current, inter-institution and inter-laboratory collaborative networks for basic science discovery and validations