Evidence for activation of cellular immune responses in patients with acute hepatitis E.
BACKGROUND
Although acute hepatitis E virus (HEV) infection is known to induce IgM and IgG humoral host immune responses, little is known about occurrence of cellular responses in this infection. We looked for evidence of lymphocyte sensitization to HEV peptides in patients with acute HEV infection.


METHODS
peripheral blood lymphocytes were obtained from patients with acute hepatitis E and healthy controls. Proliferation of these lymphocytes in the presence of each of seven peptides with amino acid sequences corresponding to open reading frames 2 and 3 proteins of HEV (3 and 4 peptides, respectively) were studied; no peptide was added to control wells. Proliferative responses with stimulation indices exceeding 3.0 were taken as positive.


RESULTS
More patients showed reactivity to two or more HEV peptides than did controls (11/21 vs 5/22, p<0.05). Reactivity to one peptide corresponding to open reading frame 2 of HEV was more frequent in patients than in controls (7/21 vs 1/22, p<0.05).


CONCLUSIONS
Our results show that lymphocytes of patients with acute hepatitis E show sensitization to HEV peptides. This may have significance in understanding the pathogenetic mechanisms of liver injury in this infection.
Naik
Sita
S
Department of Immunology, Sanjay Gandhi Postgraduate Institute of Medical Sciences, Lucknow. sitanaik@sgpgi.ac.in
Aggarwal
Rakesh
R
Naik
Subhash R
SR
Dwivedi
Sunita
S
Talwar
Sudha
S
Tyagi
S K
SK
Duhan
S D
SD
Coursaget
P
P
D000208:Acute Disease; D000328:Adult; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D005260:Female; D016751:Hepatitis E / Q000276:immunology*; D006801:Humans; D007111:Immunity, Cellular; D007963:Leukocytes, Mononuclear / Q000276:immunology; D008214:Lymphocytes / Q000276:immunology; D008297:Male