title: HBcAg-pulsed dendritic cell vaccine induces Th1 polarization and production of hepatitis B virus-specific cytotoxic T lymphocytes.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Dendritic cells (DCs) pulsed with HBsAg efficiently reverse the immune tolerance to hepatitis B virus (HBV) and induce HBV-specific cytotoxic T lymphocyte (CTL) responses in transgenic mice and healthy volunteers. However, it is not clear whether HBV core antigen (HBcAg)-pulsed DCs can effectively induce CD4(+) helper T cells polarization into Th1, which contribute to the induction and maintenance of HBV-specific CD8(+) T cells in chronic hepatitis B (CHB) patients. To address this issue, we conducted this study and investigated whether HBcAg-pulsed DCs could polarize Th1 cells and induce an HBcAg-specific CTL response.
  
  
  METHODS
  HBcAg-pulsed DCs were generated from 21 CHB patients. The capacity of the HBcAg-pulsed DC vaccine to stimulate CD4(+) and CD8(+) T cells to produce IFN-gamma and IL-4 was estimated by intercellular cytokine staining, and the HBcAg-pulsed DCs derived from 10 humam leucocyte antigen (HLA)-A2(+) CHB patients were tested for the induction of HBV-specific CTLs from autologous T cells by pentamer staining. The cytotoxicity of these CTLs was evaluated in vitro by flow cytometry.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The HBcAg-pulsed DCs derived from CHB patients exhibited a stronger capacity to stimulate autologous CD4(+) and CD8(+) T cells to release IFN-gamma rather than IL-4, which could induce HBV core 18-27 specific CTLs, suggesting a specific cytotoxicity against T2 cells that had been loaded with the HBV core 18-27 peptide in vitro.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  HBcAg-pulsed DC vaccine derived from CHB patients efficiently induced autologous T cell polarization to Th1 and generation of HBV core 18-27 specific CTLs.
authors.affiliation: Center for Clinical Laboratory, Bijing Institute of Infectious Diseases, Beijing, China.
authors.forename: Weiwei
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.forename: Ming
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Shi
authors.forename: Feng
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Shi
authors.forename: Yuanli
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Mao
authors.forename: Zirong
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Tang
authors.forename: Bin
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.forename: Hui
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.forename: Liangen
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.forename: Liming
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.forename: Shaojie
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Xin
authors.forename: Fu-Sheng
authors.initials: FS
authors.lastname: Wang