Abstract
BACKGROUND: Chronic hepatitis B (CHB) is a global disease that can induce severe conditions such as cirrhosis and liver cancer, posing a serious threat to human health. The low functional cure rate of existing antiviral treatment drugs is primarily due to the dysfunctional immune response in CHB patients and the difficulty in clearing intrahepatic cccDNA. METHODS: This article reviews the latest progress in the research on therapeutic vaccines for CHB, to analyze and discuss the potential impact of current achievements and to outline the prospects for future research, exploring therapeutic strategies for the functional cure of CHB. RESULTS: Therapeutic vaccines are anticipated to activate specific immune responses in CHB patients, break the mechanisms of immune tolerance, and exhibit significant potential in maintaining long-term immune activity. Several therapeutic vaccines have already demonstrated promising therapeutic effects. CONCLUSIONS: Therapeutic vaccines are of great significance in the field of CHB treatment. Current research achievements provide strong support for their application, while combined therapy offers new ideas and hope for future treatment directions.