Hepatitis B Virus-Specific CD8+ T Cells Maintain Functional Exhaustion after Antigen Reexposure in an Acute Activation Immune Environment.

ABSTRACT: Chronic hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection is characterized by the presence of functionally exhausted HBV-specific CD8+ T cells. To characterize the possible residual effector ability of these cells, we reexposed CD8+ T cells from chronically HBV replicating mice to HBV antigens in an acute activation immune environment. We found that after transfer into naive mice, exhausted CD8+ T cells reexpanded in a comparable magnitude as naive CD8+ T cells in response to acute HBV infection; however, their proliferation intensity was significantly lower than that of CD8+ T cells from acute-resolving HBV replicating mice (AR mice). The differentiation phenotypes driven by acute HBV replication of donor exhausted and naive CD8+ T cells were similar, but were different from those of their counterparts f

SUBMITTER: Wang Q 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5816053 | biostudies-literature | 2018

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature