He was appointed director of the Liver Cancer and Molecular Virology Inserm unit (U370) in 1993 and Head of the French National Reference Center for Viral Hepatitis in 1998.
From 2008 to 2013, Christian Bréchot served as Vice President of Medical and Scientific Affairs at the Institut Mérieux, an umbrella organization consisting of four companies specializing in the fields of in vitro diagnostics, immunotherapy and food safety/nutrition/health, based in Boston, Lyon and Shanghai.
Christian Bréchot's team of researchers has also shed light on several aspects related to cell cycle regulation, in particular through the identification of human cyclin A at the genomic insertion site of HBV in an HCC.
Bréchot set up a unit in 2005 (directed by professor Didier Samuel) at the Centre hépato-biliaire (CHB) in Villejuif in the Paris suburbs, one of the main European liver transplant centers.
The scientists also demonstrated the potential of gene therapy based on the use of NIS dnaC to transduce liver cancer cells, and the use of iodide (131I) to treat hepatocellular carcinoma.