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Updated: May 21, 2026
Analysis of HBV-Specific CD4 T-cell Responses and Identification of HLA-DR-Restricted CD4 T-Cell Epitopes Based on a Peptide Matrix
Published on: October 20, 2021
HBV specific T-cell responses in hepatitis B
Deepa Rana1, John Menachery, Yogesh Chawla
1Departments of Immunopathology, Postgraduate Institute of Medical Education and Research (PGIMER), Chandigarh - 160012, India.
Background:
Cellular immune responses seem to prevail in acute hepatitis, whereas chronically infected patients demonstrate generally suppressed cellular immune responses and significantly greater antibody responses.
Aim:
To study hepatitis B virus (HBV) specific T cell proliferative responses in HBV related liver diseases.
Methods:
We analyzed the T lymphocyte proliferative responses to the nonspecific mitogen phytohemagglutinin (PHA) and the HBV specific hepatitis B core antigen (HBcAg) by calculating T cell proliferation index in 10 acute viral hepatitis (AVH) patients, 19 chronic hepatitis B (CHB) patients, 10 HBV cirrhotics, 10 inactive carriers and 10 healthy controls using MTT assay.
Results:
The mean proliferation index (PI) to PHA was highest in healthy controls (133.2 +/- 58.1) and lowest in cirrhotics (44.1 +/- 46.9) with all other groups falling in between. On comparing the mean T cell responses to HBcAg, AVH patients had the highest mean response (186.48 +/- 116.37) followed by CHB (137.9 +/- 134.3), inactive carriers (63.2 +/- 41.2) and cirrhotics (55.5 +/- 42.7).
Conclusions:
Patients with AVH had the highest T cell response to HBcAg, which probably explains the clearance of virus in these patients, in contrast to patients with cirrhosis who had the lowest T cell response.
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