Related Experiment Video
Updated: Dec 26, 2025

Stem Cell-Derived Viral Ag-Specific T Lymphocytes Suppress HBV Replication in Mice
Published on: September 25, 2019
MHC-E-Restricted CD8+ T Cells Target Hepatitis B Virus-Infected Human Hepatocytes
Benjamin J Burwitz1,2, Patrick K Hashiguchi1, Mandana Mansouri1
1Vaccine and Gene Therapy Institute, Oregon Health & Science University, Beaverton, OR 97006.
Abstract:
Currently 247 million people are living with chronic hepatitis B virus infection (CHB), and the development of novel curative treatments is urgently needed. Immunotherapy is an attractive approach to treat CHB, yet therapeutic approaches to augment the endogenous hepatitis B virus (HBV)-specific T cell response in CHB patients have demonstrated little success. In this study, we show that strain 68-1 rhesus macaque (RM) CMV vaccine vectors expressing HBV Ags engender HBV-specific CD8+ T cells unconventionally restricted by MHC class II and the nonclassical MHC-E molecule in RM. Surface staining of human donor and RM primary hepatocytes (PH) ex vivo revealed the majority of PH expressed MHC-E but not MHC class II. HBV-specific, MHC-E-restricted CD8+ T cells from RM vaccinated with RM CMV vaccine vectors expressing HBV Ags recognized HBV-infected PH from both human donor and RM. These results provide proof-of-concept that MHC-E-restricted CD8+ T cells could be harnessed for the treatment of CHB, either through therapeutic vaccination or adoptive immunotherapy.
More Related Videos
12:09Use of Single Chain MHC Technology to Investigate Co-agonism in Human CD8+ T Cell Activation
Published on: February 28, 2019
10:37Analysis 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
Related Concept Videos
Cytotoxic T Cells-mediated Immune Response
Immunological surveillance is the ability of immune cells to monitor and eliminate infected cells with intracellular pathogens, neoplastically transformed cells, and cells with non-self antigens. Cytotoxic T cells and NK...
Immune Response Against Viral Pathogens
NK Cells
NK cells are a crucial part of our innate immune system, acting as the first line of defense against viral infections. These cells can recognize and kill infected cells without prior exposure to the virus, effectively slowing down the spread of infection. Additionally, NK cells produce proinflammatory...
Antigens Involved in Adaptive Immunity
Complete Antigens
Complete antigens possess both immunogenicity and...
T Cell Activation and Clonal Selection
Naive T cells that have not yet encountered an antigen express two primary CD...