The proapoptotic protein Bim is not differentially regulated in CD8+ T cells from resolved or chronic HCV infection

Background: CD8 T cells play an important role in the antiviral immune response against HCV. Nevertheless, these cells fail to control the viral replication in patients with chronic infection either due to mutational escape of the virus in targeted epitopes or a dysfunctional phenotype of virus-specific CD8 T cells. Moreover, deletion of virus-specific CD8 T cells due to premature apoptosis upon their activation in the liver has been suggested. The pro-apoptotic BH3-only protein Bim has been found to be upregulated in CD8+ T cells activated by hepatocytes in mouse models as well as in patients chronically infect…