Repeated exposure to trace amounts of woodchuck hepadnavirus induces molecularly evident infection and virus-specific T cell response in the absence of serological infection markers and hepatitis.

ABSTRACT: Exposure to multiple small doses of hepatitis B virus (HBV) is a frequent occurrence in high-risk groups, including close relatives of infected individuals, primary care givers, and intravenous drug users. It remains uncertain whether such repeated contact may culminate in a symptomatic infection coinciding with hepatitis in individuals not immunoprotected. In this study, we evaluated consequences of multiple exposures to small, liver-nonpathogenic amounts of infectious hepadnavirus in the woodchuck model of hepatitis B. Virus-naïve animals were intravenously injected with 6 weekly doses of 110 DNase digestion-protected virions of woodchuck hepatitis virus (WHV), injected again with 6 weekly 110-virion doses after 7.5 months, and then challenged or not with a liver-pathogenic dose of 1.1 ×

SUBMITTER: Gujar SA 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3554046 | biostudies-literature | 2013 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature