title: Gamma-interferon production in response to hepatitis B core protein and its synthetic peptides in patients with chronic hepatitis B virus infection.
abstract: The nucleocapsid of hepatitis B virus (HBV) is an efficient immunogen in activating T cells to produce interferon-gamma (IFN-gamma) in patients with chronic HBV infection. We investigated hepatitis B core antigen (HBcAg)-specific T cell recognition, which seems to be implicated in the pathogenesis of chronic liver disease. IFN-gamma production by peripheral-blood mononuclear cells of patients with chronic HBV infection [25 patients with chronic active hepatitis (CAH) and 14 asymptomatic carriers of HBV (ASCs)] was measured by an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. P19 polypeptide, which is derived from recombinant HBcAg particle (rHBcAg), increased IFN-gamma production in patients with CAH, but its effect was weaker than that of rHBcAg. P19 had no stimulating effect on T cells from ASCs. The fine specificity of T cell recognition of HBcAg was examined using 8 kinds of synthetic peptides. T cells from the patients who responded against P19 polypeptide recognized the sites within the common sequences of HBcAg and HBeAg (p72-90, P90-99, P108-122 and P126-146). These results suggest that HBcAg and P19 are cross-reactive at the T cell level, and that these T cells recognize the sites within the common sequences of HBcAg and HBeAg in HBV-infected patients.
authors.affiliation: Third Department of Internal Medicine, Nagoya University School of Medicine, Japan.
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Wakita
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Kakumu
authors.forename: Y
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Tsutsumi
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Yoshioka
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Machida
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Mayumi
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D002353:Carrier State / Q000276:immunology; D004797:Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay; D000939:Epitopes / Q000276:immunology*; D005260:Female; D006509:Hepatitis B / Q000276:immunology*; D006512:Hepatitis B Core Antigens / Q000737:chemistry / Q000276:immunology*; D006514:Hepatitis B Surface Antigens / Q000032:analysis; D006513:Hepatitis B e Antigens / Q000276:immunology; D006521:Hepatitis, Chronic / Q000276:immunology*; D006801:Humans; D007371:Interferon-gamma / Q000276:immunology*; D008297:Male; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D011994:Recombinant Proteins; D013601:T-Lymphocytes / Q000276:immunology*
chemical_list: D000939:Epitopes; D006512:Hepatitis B Core Antigens; D006514:Hepatitis B Surface Antigens; D006513:Hepatitis B e Antigens; D011994:Recombinant Proteins; D007371:Interferon-gamma