Chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) have contributed to diverse fields of biomedical research due to their close genetic relationship to humans and in many instances due to the lack of any other animal model. This review focuses on the contributions of the chimpanzee model to research on hepatitis viruses where chimpanzees represented the only animal model (hepatitis B and C) or the most appropriate animal model (hepatitis A). Research with chimpanzees led to the development of vaccines for HAV and HBV that are used worldwide to protect hundreds of millions from these diseases and, where fully implemented, have provided immunity for entire generations. More recently, chimpanzee research was instrumental in the development of curative therapies for hepatitis C virus infections. Over a span of 40 years, this research would identify the causative agent of NonA,NonB hepatitis, validate the molecular tools for drug discovery, and provide safety and efficacy data on the therapies that now provide a rapid and complete cure of HCV chronic infections. Several cocktails of antivirals are FDA approved that eliminate the virus following 12 weeks of once-per-day oral therapy. This represents the first cure of a chronic viral disease and, once broadly implemented, will dramatically reduce the occurrence of cirrhosis and liver cancer. The recent contributions of chimpanzees to our current understanding of T cell immunity for HCV, development of novel therapeutics for HBV, and the biology of HAV are reviewed. Finally, a perspective is provided on the events leading to the cessation of the use of chimpanzees in research and the future of the chimpanzees previously used to bring about these amazing breakthroughs in human healthcare.

中文翻译：

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黑猩猩病毒性肝炎模型：了解免疫应答和治疗病毒性肝炎的进展。

黑猩猩（Pan troglodytes）由于其与人类的密切遗传关系，在许多情况下，由于缺乏任何其他动物模型，因而在生物医学研究的各个领域做出了贡献。本文主要关注黑猩猩模型对肝炎病毒研究的贡献，其中黑猩猩代表唯一的动物模型（乙型和丙型肝炎）或最合适的动物模型（甲型肝炎）。对黑猩猩的研究导致了针对HAV和HBV的疫苗的开发，这种疫苗已在全球范围内用于保护数以亿计的人免受这些疾病的侵害，并且在全面实施的情况下，已经为整个世代提供免疫力。最近，黑猩猩的研究在丙型肝炎病毒感染的治疗方法开发中起了重要作用。在40年的时间里，这项研究将确定NonA，NonB肝炎的病原体，验证用于药物发现的分子工具，并提供目前可快速，完全治愈HCV慢性感染的疗法的安全性和有效性数据。FDA批准了几种抗病毒药混合物，它们在每天一次口服治疗12周后消除了该病毒。这代表了慢性病毒性疾病的第一个治愈方法，一旦广泛实施，将大大减少肝硬化和肝癌的发生。综述了黑猩猩对我们目前对HCV的T细胞免疫，对HBV新型疗法的开发以及HAV生物学的最新贡献。最后，