Hepatitis B virus-specific T-cell responses during IFN administration in a small cohort of chronic hepatitis B patients under nucleos(t)ide analogue treatment

2013 ◽  
Vol 21 (9) ◽  
pp. 633-641 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. F. Sprinzl ◽  
C. Russo ◽  
J. Kittner ◽  
S. Allgayer ◽  
A. Grambihler ◽  
...  
2018 ◽  
Vol 69 (3) ◽  
pp. 584-593 ◽  
Author(s):  
Franziska Rinker ◽  
Christine L. Zimmer ◽  
Christoph Höner zu Siederdissen ◽  
Michael P. Manns ◽  
Anke R.M. Kraft ◽  
...  

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Timur O. Yarovinsky ◽  
Stephen W. Mason ◽  
Manisha Menon ◽  
Marie M. Krady ◽  
Maria Haslip ◽  
...  

ABSTRACTInfection with hepatitis B virus (HBV) can initiate chronic hepatitis and liver injury, eventually progressing to liver fibrosis or cancer and causing more than 600,000 deaths each year worldwide. Current treatments for chronic hepatitis B, relying on nucleoside antivirals and interferon, are inadequate and leave an unmet need for immunotherapeutic approaches. This report describes virus-like vesicles (VLV), a form of self-amplifying RNA replicons, which express multiple HBV antigens (polymerase, core, and middle surface) from a single vector (HBV-VLV). The HBV-VLV induces HBV-specific T cell responses to all three HBV antigens. Immunization of naive mice with the multiantigen HBV-VLV renders them resistant to acute challenge with HBV delivered by adeno-associated virus (AAV). Using a chronic model of HBV infection by AAV delivery of HBV, we demonstrate immunotherapeutic potential of the multiantigen HBV-VLV in combination with DNA booster immunization, as 40% of the HBV-VLV-treated mice showed a decline of the serum HBV surface antigen below the detection limit and marked reduction in liver HBV RNA accompanied by induction of HBsAg-specific CD8 T cells. These results warrant further evaluation of multiantigen HBV-VLV for immunotherapy of chronic hepatitis B.IMPORTANCEMore than 240 million people worldwide are chronically infected with hepatitis B virus. Current therapies are not sufficiently effective and are often beyond reach in the developing world. We describe a virus-like vesicle-based immunotherapeutic vaccine that expresses three major antigens of hepatitis B virus as a self-amplifying RNA replicon. By incorporating three HBV antigens in a single vaccine, we ensure broad T cell responses. We demonstrate that immunization with this vaccine protects mice from hepatitis B virus in a model of acute challenge. Importantly, treatment with this vaccine shows 40% efficacy in a mouse model of chronic hepatitis B. Thus, this study paves the way for evaluation of the multi-antigen virus-like vesicles as a tool for immunotherapy of chronic hepatitis B.


2007 ◽  
Vol 81 (10) ◽  
pp. 4963-4972 ◽  
Author(s):  
Maryline Mancini-Bourgine ◽  
Florence Bayard ◽  
Patrick Soussan ◽  
Qiang Deng ◽  
Yu-Chun Lone ◽  
...  

ABSTRACT Hepatitis B virus splice-generated protein (HBSP), encoded by a spliced hepatitis B virus RNA, was recently identified in liver biopsy specimens from patients with chronic active hepatitis B. We investigated the possible generation of immunogenic peptides by the processing of this protein in vivo. We identified a panel of potential epitopes in HBSP by using predictive computational algorithms for peptide binding to HLA molecules. We used transgenic mice devoid of murine major histocompatibility complex (MHC) class I molecules and positive for human MHC class I molecules to characterize immune responses specific for HBSP. Two HLA-A2-restricted peptides and one immunodominant HLA-B7-restricted epitope were identified following the immunization of mice with DNA vectors encoding HBSP. Most importantly, a set of overlapping peptides covering the HBSP sequence induced significant HBSP-specific T-cell responses in peripheral blood mononuclear cells from patients with chronic hepatitis B. The response was multispecific, as several epitopes were recognized by CD8+ and CD4+ human T cells. This study provides the first evidence that this protein generated in vivo from an alternative reading frame of the hepatitis B virus genome activates T-cell responses in hepatitis B virus-infected patients. Given that hepatitis B is an immune response-mediated disease, the detection of T-cell responses directed against HBSP in patients with chronic hepatitis B suggests a potential role for this protein in liver disease progression.


2018 ◽  
Vol 92 (23) ◽  
Author(s):  
Keigo Kawashima ◽  
Masanori Isogawa ◽  
Susumu Hamada-Tsutsumi ◽  
Ian Baudi ◽  
Satoru Saito ◽  
...  

ABSTRACT Robust virus-specific CD8+ T cell responses are required for the clearance of hepatitis B virus (HBV). However, the factors that determine the magnitude of HBV-specific CD8+ T cell responses are poorly understood. To examine the impact of genetic variations of HBV on HBV-specific CD8+ T cell responses, we introduced three HBV clones (Aa_IND [Aa], C_JPN22 [C22], and D_IND60 [D60]) that express various amounts of HBV antigens into the livers of C57BL/6 (B6) (H-2b) mice and B10.D2 (H-2d) mice. In B6 mice, clone C22 barely induced HBV-specific CD8+ T cell responses and persisted the longest, while clone D60 elicited strong HBV-specific CD8+ T cell responses and was rapidly cleared. These differences between HBV clones largely diminished in H-2d mice. Interestingly, the magnitude of HBV-specific CD8+ T cell responses in B6 mice was associated with the HB core antigen expression level during the early phase of HBV transduction. Surprisingly, robust HBV-specific CD8+ T cell responses to clone C22 were induced in interferon-α/β receptor-deficient (IFN-αβR–/–) (H-2b) mice. The induction of HBV-specific CD8+ T cell responses to C22 in IFN-αβR–/– mice reflects enhanced HBV antigen expression because the suppression of antigen expression by HBV-specific small interfering RNA (siRNA) attenuated HBV-specific T cell responses in IFN-αβR–/– mice and prolonged HBV expression. Collectively, these results suggest that HBV genetic variation and type I interferon signaling determine the magnitude of HBV-specific CD8+ T cell responses by regulating the initial antigen expression levels. IMPORTANCE Hepatitis B virus (HBV) causes acute and chronic infection, and approximately 240 million people are chronically infected with HBV worldwide. It is generally believed that virus-specific CD8+ T cell responses are required for the clearance of HBV. However, the relative contributions of genetic variation and innate immune responses to the induction of HBV-specific CD8+ T cell responses are not fully understood. In this study, we discovered that different clearance rates between HBV clones after hydrodynamic transduction were associated with the magnitude of HBV-specific CD8+ T cell responses and initial HB core antigen expression. Surprisingly, type I interferon signaling negatively regulated HBV-specific CD8+ T cell responses by reducing early HBV antigen expression. These results show that the magnitude of the HBV-specific CD8+ T cell response is regulated primarily by the initial antigen expression level.


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