HBcAg-pulsed dendritic cell vaccine induces Th1 polarization and production of hepatitis B virus-specific cytotoxic T lymphocytes.
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.
Chen
Weiwei
W
Center for Clinical Laboratory, Bijing Institute of Infectious Diseases, Beijing, China.
Shi
Ming
M
Shi
Feng
F
Mao
Yuanli
Y
Tang
Zirong
Z
Zhang
Bin
B
Zhang
Hui
H
Chen
Liangen
L
Chen
Liming
L
Xin
Shaojie
S
Wang
Fu-Sheng
FS