1. Hepatitis C Virus Induces Regulatory T Cells by Naturally Occurring Viral Variants to Suppress T Cell Responses.
- Author
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Cusick, Matthew F., Schiller, Jennifer J., Gill, Joan C., and Eckels, David D.
- Subjects
- *
T cells , *HEPATITIS C virus , *ANTIGENS , *VIRAL antigens , *BIOMARKERS - Abstract
Regulatory T cell markers are increased in chronically infected individuals with the hepatitis C virus (HCV), but to date, the induction and maintenance of Tregs in HCV infection has not been clearly defined. In this paper, we demonstrate that naturally occurring viral variants suppress T cell responses to cognate NS3358-375 in an antigen-specific manner. Of four archetypal variants, S370P induced regulatory T cell markers in comparison to NS3358-375-stimulated CD4 T cells. Further, the addition of variantspecific CD4 T cells back into a polyclonal culture in a dose-dependent manner inhibited the T cell response. These results suggest thatHCV is able to induce antigen-specific regulatory T cells to suppress the antiviral T cell response in an antigen-specific manner, thus contributing to a niche within the host that could be conducive to HCV persistence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
- Published
- 2011
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