Analysis of hepatocyte antigen presentation and T cell/hepatocyte interaction in the context of hepatitis B virus Infection.

• Main Author: Noviani, Maria.
• Other Authors: School of Biological Sciences
• Format: Final Year Project
• Language: English
• Published: 2010
• Subjects: DRNTU::Science::Biological sciences::Microbiology::Immunology; DRNTU::Science::Biological sciences::Microbiology::Virology
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/10356/39656
• Institution: Nanyang Technological University

Hepatitis B Virus (HBV) has evolved multiple immune escape strategies in order to establish persistent infection in the host. This study aimed to analyze strategies employed by HBV to evade host’s cellular immune response, which requires an interaction of T cell receptor (TCR) and major histocompatibility complex class I (MHC I)/peptide complex for T cell activation. Firstly, we investigated whether HBV would inhibit MHC I expression on the surface of hepatocytes by using anti-MHC I antibody to stain the MHC I molecules. Secondly, we examined whether HBV would interfere with the interaction of TCR and MHC I/peptide complex. To achieve the second objective, we used T cells specific to influenza virus, which is unrelated to HBV infection, and analyzed their activation profile after stimulation with HBV expressing hepatocyte pulsed with influenza virus peptide. Taken together, current findings suggest that HBV did not modulate MHC I surface expression nor interfere with the interaction of MHC I/peptide complex and TCR to evade cellular immunity. Nevertheless, as this study was performed with hepatocyte lines, further ex vivo study is needed to validate our current findings. Uncovering HBV immune escape strategies may eventually lead to development of therapies to treat chronic HBV infection.