Differenzial functional enhancement of HBV-specific CD8+ T cell upon inhibitory receptor blockade

Virus-specific CD8+ T cells are thought to play a crucial role in the control of HBV infection. In chronic HBV infection, up-regulation of several inhibitory signaling pathways by HBV-specific CD8+ T cells is thought to contribute to viral persistence. However, there is limited information regarding the relative contribution of the individual inhibitory pathways and the impact of inhibitory receptor blockade on T cell proliferation, cytokine production and antiviral efficacy. To address these important aspects of T cell dysfunction and exhaustion in HBV infection, we first determined the expression of multiple i…