1. HBcAg-pulsed dendritic cell vaccine induces Th1 polarization and production of hepatitis B virus-specific cytotoxic T lymphocytes
- Author
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Bin Zhang, Liangen Chen, Feng Shi, Shaojie Xin, Liming Chen, Yuanli Mao, Hui Zhang, Weiwei Chen, Ming Shi, Zirong Tang, and Fu-Sheng Wang
- Subjects
HBsAg ,Hepatology ,virus diseases ,T helper cell ,Biology ,Virology ,digestive system diseases ,Immune tolerance ,HBcAg ,Infectious Diseases ,medicine.anatomical_structure ,Antigen ,Immunology ,medicine ,Cytotoxic T cell ,Antigen-presenting cell ,CD8 - Abstract
Aim Dendritic cells (DCs) pulsed with HBsAg efficiently reverse the immune tolerance to hepatitis B virus (HBV) and induce HBV-specific cytotoxic T lymphocyte (CTL) responses in transgenic mice and healthy volunteers. However, it is not clear whether HBV core antigen (HBcAg)-pulsed DCs can effectively induce CD4(+) helper T cells polarization into Th1, which contribute to the induction and maintenance of HBV-specific CD8(+) T cells in chronic hepatitis B (CHB) patients. To address this issue, we conducted this study and investigated whether HBcAg-pulsed DCs could polarize Th1 cells and induce an HBcAg-specific CTL response. Methods HBcAg-pulsed DCs were generated from 21 CHB patients. The capacity of the HBcAg-pulsed DC vaccine to stimulate CD4(+) and CD8(+) T cells to produce IFN-gamma and IL-4 was estimated by intercellular cytokine staining, and the HBcAg-pulsed DCs derived from 10 humam leucocyte antigen (HLA)-A2(+) CHB patients were tested for the induction of HBV-specific CTLs from autologous T cells by pentamer staining. The cytotoxicity of these CTLs was evaluated in vitro by flow cytometry. Results The HBcAg-pulsed DCs derived from CHB patients exhibited a stronger capacity to stimulate autologous CD4(+) and CD8(+) T cells to release IFN-gamma rather than IL-4, which could induce HBV core 18-27 specific CTLs, suggesting a specific cytotoxicity against T2 cells that had been loaded with the HBV core 18-27 peptide in vitro. Conclusion HBcAg-pulsed DC vaccine derived from CHB patients efficiently induced autologous T cell polarization to Th1 and generation of HBV core 18-27 specific CTLs.
- Published
- 2009