Phenotypic characterization of circulating monofunctional TNF-alpha+ CD4 T cells in patients with acute and chronic hepatitis B
C Russo, MF Sprinzl, F Geisler, A Umgelter, J Kittner, M Schuchmann, PR Galle, C Dembek, U Protzer, T Bauer · Zeitschrift für Gastroenterologie · 2013 · Heft 01
Bibliografische Angaben
Zusammenfassung
In a prospective study we evaluated the effect of pegylated interferon-α (IFN) add-on therapy on HBV specific T cell responses in a cohort of 12 chronic hepatitis B patients with undetectable viral load under nucleos(t)ide analogue therapy. Peripheral blood mononuclear cells were isolated and analyzed by 10-color flow cytometry ex vivo. IFN add-on induced a significant increase in HBV specific CD4 but not CD8 T cell responses within 8 weeks of treatment. Prior to add-on therapy we observed monofunctional CD4 T cells producing TNF-alpha (CD4/TNF-mono) without antigen restimulation ex vivo (median 0.23%; range 0.0…
