[Liver fibrosis in hepatitis B: a dynamic process]

Liver fibrosis is a common complication of chronic hepatitis B leading to the progressive destruction of normal tissue architecture or the replacement of hepatocytic tissue with fibrous tissue. The final outcome of this process is liver cirrhosis, which is the major cause of morbidity and mortality in chronic viral hepatitis. Fibrogenesis is closely related to activation of the main type of fibrocompetent cells in the liver: hepatic stellate cells. Experimental models have allowed a better understanding of the dynamics of fibrosis, the biological processes related to its progression and regression and the development of new anti-fibrotic drugs. Nevertheless, it is universally accepted that such an anti-fibrotic treatment will be efficient only after hepatitis B virus eradication. Furthermore, early fibrosis is more amenable to regression than more advanced and highly organized liver cirrhosis.