Chronic liver disease and hepatocellular carcinoma associated with chronic hepatitis B virus (HBV)-infection are among the most serious human health problems in highly endemic regions. Current therapeutic approaches to control chronic hepatitis such as interferon-alpha and lamivudine are unsatisfactory. Vaccination would be the therapeutic procedure with the lowest cost and the potentially greatest benefit. The immunogenicity of selected HBV envelope- or capsid-based vaccine formulations for the induction or the broadening of T and B cell responses, deficient in HBV chronic carriers, are currently under study in animal models and in clinical trials.