1. Tim‐3 blockade promotes iNKT cell function to inhibit HBV replication
- Author
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Yuan Liu, Chunhong Ma, Tixiao Wang, Xiaojia Song, Xianhong Du, Zehua Wang, Siyu Tan, Yong Xu, Lifen Gao, and Xiaohong Liang
- Subjects
0301 basic medicine ,HBsAg ,Hepatitis B virus ,T cell ,Galactosylceramides ,Mice, Transgenic ,Virus Replication ,Virus ,03 medical and health sciences ,Interferon-gamma ,Mice ,0302 clinical medicine ,Hepatitis B, Chronic ,Lysosomal-Associated Membrane Protein 1 ,Blocking antibody ,medicine ,Animals ,Humans ,Hepatitis A Virus Cellular Receptor 2 ,iNKT cells ,Mice, Knockout ,Hepatitis B Surface Antigens ,biology ,Chemistry ,Tumor Necrosis Factor-alpha ,HBV replication ,Cell Biology ,Original Articles ,In vitro ,Blockade ,Tim‐3 ,030104 developmental biology ,medicine.anatomical_structure ,Gene Expression Regulation ,Liver ,030220 oncology & carcinogenesis ,Cancer research ,biology.protein ,Molecular Medicine ,Natural Killer T-Cells ,Original Article ,Interleukin-4 ,Antibody ,Cell activation - Abstract
Increased expression of T cell immunoglobulin and mucin domain‐3 (Tim‐3) on invariant natural killer T (iNKT) cells is reported in chronic hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection. However, whether Tim‐3 regulates iNKT cells in chronic HBV condition remains unclear. In this study, our results showed that the expression of Tim‐3 was up‐regulated on hepatic iNKT cells from HBV‐transgenic (Tg) mice or iNKT cells stimulated with α‐galactosylceramide (α‐Galcer). Compared with Tim‐3− iNKT cells, Tim‐3+ iNKT cells expressed more IFN‐γ, IL‐4 and CD107a, indicating a strong relationship between Tim‐3 and iNKT cell activation. Constantly, treatment of Tim‐3 blocking antibodies significantly enhanced the production of IFN‐γ, TNF‐α, IL‐4 and CD107a in iNKT cells both in vivo and in vitro. This Tim‐3− mediated suppression of iNKT cells was further confirmed in Tim‐3 knockout (KO) mice. Moreover, Tim‐3 blockade promoted α‐Galcer‐triggered inhibition of HBV replication, displaying as the decreased HBV DNA and HBsAg level in serum, and down‐regulated pgRNA expression in liver tissues. Collectively, our data, for the first time, demonstrated the potential role of Tim‐3 blockade in promoting iNKT cell‐mediated HBV inhibition. Therefore, combination of α‐Galcer with Tim‐3 blockade might be a promising approach in chronic hepatitis B therapy.
- Published
- 2018