Hepatitis B Virus Immunopathology, Model Systems, and Current Therapies

作者：Sandhu Praneet; Haque Mohammad; Humphries Bickley Tessa; Ravi Swetha; Song Jianxun

来源：Frontiers in Immunology, 2017, 8: 436.

DOI：10.3389/fimmu.2017.00436

• hepatitis B virus
• immunopathology
• model systems
• therapies
• immunotherapy for HBV

Most people develop acute hepatitis B virus (HBV)-related hepatitis that is controlled by both humoral and cellular immune responses following acute infection. However, a number of individuals in HBV-endemic areas fail to resolve the infection and consequently become chronic carriers. While a vaccine is available and new antiviral drugs are being developed, elimination of persistently infected cells is still a major issue. Standard treatment in HBV infection includes IFN-alpha, nucleoside, or nucleotide analogs, which has direct antiviral activity and immune modulatory capacities. However, immunological control of the virus is often not durable. A robust T-cell response is associated with control of HBV infection and liver damage; however, HBV-specific T cells are deleted, dysfunctional, or become exhausted in chronic hepatitis patients. As a result, efforts to restore virus-specific T-cell immunity in chronic HBV patients using antiviral therapy, immunomodulatory cytokines, or therapeutic vaccination have had little success. Adoptive cell transfer of T cells with specificity for HBV antigen(+) cells represents an approach aiming to ultimately eliminate residual hepatocytes carrying HBV covalently closed circular DNA (cccDNA). Here, we discuss recent findings describing HBV immunopathology, model systems, and current therapies.

• 出版日期2017-4-13