Study on the HBV specific CD3~+ T cells in the peripheral blood of chronic hepatitis B patients using Dimer X I A_2:Ig reagent / 中华传染病杂志

ABSTRACT

Objective To study the percentage of HBV specific CD3 + T cells in the peripheral blood of chronic hepatitis B patients. Methods HLA A 2 patients were screened by MHCIg dimer reagent. HLA A 2 restricted HBV core, polymerase, and surface peptides were added to T cells of chronic hepatitis B patients, followed by double staining with anti CD3 antibodies and antibodies reactive with the heavy chain of Ig. FACS was used for monitoring HBV specific T cell percentage. Results 23/54 (42.6%) patients belonged to HLA A 2. Fifteen of them were reacted with HBV peptides. CD3 + T cells of five patients showed higher percentage of binding with the HBV peptides than that in the controls. Four patients showed CD3 + T cells binding with S peptide, one with P peptide and one binding with both S and P peptide. Conclusions The percentage of T cells which could bind with HBV peptide was low in chronic hepatitis B and the binding efficiency was low as well. The MHCIg dimer reagent is convenient for counting the number of HBV specific T cells, but the nonspecific staining background seems to be relatively high. However, this technology is useful to monitor changes of immune responses in chronic hepatitis B patients during immuno therapy.