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Takahama S, Yoshio S, Masuta Y, Murakami H, Sakamori R, Kaneko S, Honda T, Murakawa M, Sugiyama M, Kurosaki M, Asahina Y, Takehara T, Appay V, Kanto T, Yamamoto T. Hepatitis B surface antigen reduction is associated with hepatitis B core-specific CD8 + T cell quality. Front Immunol 2023; 14:1257113. [PMID: 37920475 PMCID: PMC10619684 DOI: 10.3389/fimmu.2023.1257113] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/12/2023] [Accepted: 09/07/2023] [Indexed: 11/04/2023] Open
Abstract
Despite treatment, hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg) persists in patients with chronic hepatitis B (CHB), suggesting the likely presence of the virus in the body. CD8+ T cell responses are essential for managing viral replication, but their effect on HBsAg levels remains unclear. We studied the traits of activated CD8+ T cells and HBV-specific CD8+ T cells in the blood of CHB patients undergoing nucleos(t)ide analog (NUC) therapy. For the transcriptome profiling of activated CD8+ T cells in peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs), CD69+ CD8+ T cells were sorted from six donors, and single-cell RNA sequencing (scRNA-seq) analysis was performed. To detect HBV-specific CD8+ T cells, we stimulated PBMCs from 26 donors with overlapping peptides covering the HBs, HBcore, and HBpol regions of genotype A/B/C viruses, cultured for 10 days, and analyzed via multicolor flow cytometry. scRNA-seq data revealed that CD8+ T cell clusters harboring the transcripts involved in the cytolytic functions were frequently observed in donors with high HBsAg levels. Polyfunctional analysis of HBV-specific CD8+ T cells utilized by IFN-γ/TNFα/CD107A/CD137 revealed that HBcore-specific cells exhibited greater polyfunctionality, suggesting that the quality of HBV-specific CD8+ T cells varies among antigens. Moreover, a subset of HBcore-specific CD8+ T cells with lower cytolytic potential was inversely correlated with HBsAg level. Our results revealed a stimulant-dependent qualitative difference in HBV-specific CD8+ T cells in patients with CHB undergoing NUC therapy. Hence, the induction of HBcore-specific CD8+ T cells with lower cytolytic potential could be a new target for reducing HBsAg levels.
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Affiliation(s)
- Shokichi Takahama
- Laboratory of Precision Immunology, Center for Intractable Diseases and ImmunoGenomics, National Institutes of Biomedical Innovation, Health and Nutrition, Osaka, Japan
| | - Sachiyo Yoshio
- Department of Liver Diseases, Research Center for Hepatitis and Immunology, National Center for Global Health and Medicine, Chiba, Japan
| | - Yuji Masuta
- Laboratory of Precision Immunology, Center for Intractable Diseases and ImmunoGenomics, National Institutes of Biomedical Innovation, Health and Nutrition, Osaka, Japan
| | - Hirotomo Murakami
- Laboratory of Precision Immunology, Center for Intractable Diseases and ImmunoGenomics, National Institutes of Biomedical Innovation, Health and Nutrition, Osaka, Japan
- Department of Gastroenterological Surgery, Graduate School of Medicine, Osaka University, Osaka, Japan
| | - Ryotaro Sakamori
- Department of Gastroenterology and Hepatology, Osaka University Graduate School of Medicine, Osaka, Japan
| | - Shun Kaneko
- Department of Gastroenterology and Hepatology, Musashino Red Cross Hospital, Tokyo, Japan
- Department of Gastroenterology and Hepatology, Tokyo Medical and Dental University, Tokyo, Japan
| | - Takashi Honda
- Department of Gastroenterology and Hepatology, Nagoya University Graduate School of Medicine, Nagoya, Japan
| | - Miyako Murakawa
- Department of Gastroenterology and Hepatology, Tokyo Medical and Dental University, Tokyo, Japan
| | - Masaya Sugiyama
- Department of Viral Pathogenesis and Controls, National Center for Global Health and Medicine, Tokyo, Japan
| | - Masayuki Kurosaki
- Department of Gastroenterology and Hepatology, Musashino Red Cross Hospital, Tokyo, Japan
| | - Yasuhiro Asahina
- Department of Gastroenterology and Hepatology, Tokyo Medical and Dental University, Tokyo, Japan
- Department of Liver Disease Control, Tokyo Medical and Dental University, Tokyo, Japan
| | - Tetsuo Takehara
- Department of Gastroenterology and Hepatology, Osaka University Graduate School of Medicine, Osaka, Japan
| | - Victor Appay
- Laboratory of Precision Immunology, Center for Intractable Diseases and ImmunoGenomics, National Institutes of Biomedical Innovation, Health and Nutrition, Osaka, Japan
- Université de Bordeaux, CNRS, Institut national de la santé et de la recherche médicale (INSERM), ImmunoConcEpT, UMR 5164, Bordeaux, France
| | - Tatsuya Kanto
- Department of Liver Diseases, Research Center for Hepatitis and Immunology, National Center for Global Health and Medicine, Chiba, Japan
| | - Takuya Yamamoto
- Laboratory of Precision Immunology, Center for Intractable Diseases and ImmunoGenomics, National Institutes of Biomedical Innovation, Health and Nutrition, Osaka, Japan
- Laboratory of Translational Cancer Immunology and Biology, Next-generation Precision Medicine Research Center, Osaka International Cancer Institute, Osaka, Japan
- The Research Institute for Microbial Diseases, Osaka University, Osaka, Japan
- Department of Virology and Immunology, Graduate School of Medicine, Osaka University, Osaka, Japan
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