In vitro use of autologous dendritic cells improves detection of T cell responses to hepatitis B virus (HBV) antigens

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J Med Virol. 2008 Dec 23;81(2):332-339. [Epub ahead of print]

In vitro use of autologous dendritic cells improves detection of T cell

responses to hepatitis B virus (HBV) antigens.

Carotenuto P, Artsen A, Niesters HG, Osterhaus AD, Pontesilli O.

Department of Virology, ErasmusMC, Dr. Molewaterplein 50, 3015GE Rotterdam, The

Netherlands.

T lymphocyte responses to hepatitis B virus (HBV) core antigen (HBcAg) are

vigorous and easily detectable in vitro during recovery from acute hepatitis B

but significantly weaker in patients with chronic HBV infection. In contrast, T

cell responses to hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg) are almost undetectable

during infection and even in a substantial fraction of subjects receiving

vaccination with HBsAg. The aim of this study was to investigate whether the use

of dendritic cells (DCs) in an in vitro assay could increase the detection of

HBV-specific T cells in these conditions. Autologous monocyte-derived DCs,

compared to direct HBsAg addition to the cultures, increased the stimulation of

HBs- specific T cells. These were detected in 73% of healthy subjects who had

recently received hepatitis B vaccine and in 43% of patients recovering from

acute hepatitis B. Likewise, proliferation in response to DC-presented HBcAg was

detected in both CD4(+) and CD8(+) T cells from the majority of chronic

hepatitis B patients. A longitudinal evaluation of HBc-specific T cell responses

during and after a 1-year treatment with pegylated interferon (IFN)-alpha showed

that HBc-specific CD4(+) T cell responses had no correlation with sustained

virus suppression whereas CD8(+) T cell responses were more frequently detected

in patients able to control HBV replication after therapy interruption. The use

of autologous DCs as antigen-presenting cells appears applicable to clinically

relevant in vitro evaluation of T cell responses, particularly in those

conditions characterized by low frequency of circulating antigen-specific cells

and suboptimal in vivo activation. J. Med. Virol. 81:332-339, 2009. © 2008

Wiley-Liss, Inc.

PMID: 19107973 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher]