Advances in the application of duck hepatitis B animal model in pharmaceutical field

The genome, replication mode and nosogenesis of duck hepatitis B virus are similar to those of human hepatitis B virus. In addition, the natural host of duck hepatitis B virus is readily available, cheap and has a high success rate of infection. Therefore, duck hepatitis B virus-infected models have been widely used for drug screening, pharmacological and pathological studies. For drug screening, the model is easy to obtain with high infection success rate and good stability. In the pharmacological research, the model can maintain high levels of viral DNA replication in the hepatocytes and exhibit significant damaged liver phenotypes which can reflect the pharmacological effects of drugs with different mechanisms. Also in the pathologic mechanisms research, the model has entire virus life cycle and maintains a pool of covalent closed-loop DNA in the hepatocytes, which can help scientific researchers better understand human hepatitis B virus. This article reviews the applications of duck hepatitis B animal model in drug screening, pharmacological and pathological studies, also outlooks the application prospect of this model.