Humans and viruses have coevolved over thousands of years; however, very few viruses are able to manifest as chronic infections with most being cleared after an acute course. Consequently, success of the human species has relied on a functional immune system that is capable of fighting off most viral pathogens. The heptatitis B virus (HBV) is one of the most successful viruses to establish chronic infection in man with over 300 million individuals currently infected worldwide and over 2 billion humans having been infected by this virus.1 These numbers underscore the tremendous ability of HBV to thwart the human immune system and establish chronic infection. In this issue of Gut , Lim et al 2 have provided evidence for a new mechanism through which HBV is able to establish and maintain chronic infection. They specifically examine the role of the enigmatic HBx protein3 in the regulation of TRIM22, a protein that has increasingly become associated with innate antiviral responses.4 5 Previous studies have demonstrated that HBx, a virally encoded protein that plays unusual roles in its life cycle, can block the antiviral response in addition …

中文翻译：

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乙型肝炎病毒 X 蛋白：修剪肝细胞中的抗病毒防御

人类和病毒共同进化了数千年；然而，很少有病毒能够表现为慢性感染，大多数在急性病程后被清除。因此，人类物种的成功依赖于能够抵抗大多数病毒病原体的功能性免疫系统。乙型肝炎病毒 (HBV) 是最成功地在人类中建立慢性感染的病毒之一，目前全世界有超过 3 亿人被感染，并且有超过 20 亿人感染了该病毒。 1 这些数字强调了 HBV 的巨大能力阻碍人体免疫系统并建立慢性感染。在本期 Gut 中，Lim 等人 2 为 HBV 能够建立和维持慢性感染的新机制提供了证据。