Chronic hepatitis delta virus infection leads to functional impairment and severe loss of MAIT cells.

ABSTRACT:

Background & aims

Hepatitis delta virus (HDV) infection is the most severe form of viral hepatitis. Although HDV-associated liver disease is considered immune-mediated, adaptive immune responses against HDV are weak. Thus, the role of several other cell-mediated mechanisms such as those driven by mucosa-associated invariant T (MAIT) cells, a group of innate-like T cells highly enriched in the human liver, has not been extensively studied in clinical HDV infection.

Methods

MAIT cells from a sizeable cohort of patients with chronic HDV were analyzed ex vivo and in vitro after stimulation. Results were compared with MAIT cells from hepatitis B virus (HBV) monoinfected patients and healthy controls.

Results

Circulating MAIT cells were dramatically decreased in the periphe

SUBMITTER: Dias J 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6642010 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature