标题: Cellular Immune Responses in Patients with Hepatitis B Surface Antigen Seroclear [打印本页] 作者: StephenW 时间: 2011-2-15 05:23 标题: Cellular Immune Responses in Patients with Hepatitis B Surface Antigen Seroclear
http://7thspace.com/headlines/372788/cellular_immune_responses_in_patients_with_hepatitis_b_surface_antigen_seroclearance_induced_by_antiviral_therapy.html
[An interesting article, report seems to be incomplete. Best to read the whole paper.
StephenW]
Cellular Immune Responses in Patients with Hepatitis B Surface Antigen Seroclearance Induced by Antiviral Therapy
The mechanisms by which chronic hepatitis B is completely resolvedthrough antiviral therapy are unknown, and the contribution of acquiredT cell immunity to hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg) seroclearancehas not been investigated. Therefore, we measured the T-cell responsesto core and envelope antigens in patients with HBsAg seroclearance.
Methods: Fourteen subjects with HBsAg seroclearance followingantiviral treatment for chronic hepatitis B, 7 HBeAg-positiveimmunotolerant HBV carriers and 9 HBeAg-negative inactive HBsAgcarriers were recruited.
HBV-specific T-cell responses to recombinant HBV core (rHBcAg) andenvelope (rHBsAg) proteins and pools of core and envelope peptides weremeasured using an ELISPOT assay detecting interferon-gamma andintracellular cytokine staining (ICS) assays detecting interferon-gammaor interleukin 2.
Results: Interferon-gamma ELISPOT assays showed a lowfrequency of weak responses to the rHBsAg and S peptide pool in theHBsAg seroclearance group, and the response frequency to the rHBcAg andthe C peptide pool was higher than to the rHBsAg (P<0.001) and Speptide pool (P=0.001) respectively. A higher response frequency to Cthan S peptide pools was confirmed in the interferon-gamma ICS assaysfor both CD4+ (P=0.033) and CD8+ (P=0.040) T cells in the HBsAgseroclearance group.
The responses to C and S antigens in the inactive carriers were similar.
Conclusions: There was a low frequency of CD4+ and CD8+ T cellimmune responses to envelope antigens in Chinese subjects with HBsAgseroclearance following antiviral therapy. It is unlikely that theseimmune responses are responsible for HBsAg seroclearance in thesesubjects.