Interferon-α modulates HBV specific T-cell response to inhibit viral gene expression in chronic HBV infection mouse model
10.16718/j.1009-7708.2018.02.009
- VernacularTitle:干扰素α调控乙型肝炎病毒特异性T细胞免疫应答抑制慢性感染小鼠模型体内病毒基因表达
- Author:
Na LIU
1
;
Jun GE
;
Silan SHEN
;
Yanni XU
;
Xiaoyong ZHANG
;
Hongyan LIU
Author Information
1. 南方医科大学南方医院(第一临床医学院)感染内科
- Keywords:
interferon-α;
chronic hepatitis B;
hepatitis B virus;
T cell response;
adaptive immunity
- From:
Chinese Journal of Infection and Chemotherapy
2018;18(2):177-183
- CountryChina
- Language:Chinese
-
Abstract:
Objective To explore the antiviral effect and mechanism of interferon-α (IFN-α) in chronic HBV infection mouse model by hydrodynamic tail vein injection. Methods Chronic HBV infection mouse model was constructed with C57BL/6j mice by hydrodynamic tail vein injection of pAAV-HBV1.2 plasmid. Serum IFN-α was determined by ELISA after injection of IFNα- expressing plasmid (i.e., plasmid pKCMvint.IFN-α-2a) or control plasmid pKCMvint. HBsAg and HBeAg levels were assayed on Abbot ARCHITECT i2000SR. Total lymphocytes in liver or spleen were counted and the frequency and function of CD8+T cells and HBV-specific CD8+T cells were analyzed by flow cytometry. Results Serum IFN-α expression level was significantly higher in the animals injected with pKCMvint.IFN-α-2a plasmid than in control group (P＜0.01). Serum HBsAg decreased quickly 12 days after injection and significantly lower than control group. Serum HBeAg was undetectable after IFN-α expression. Interestingly, the frequency of CD8+T cells in the liver of animals injected with pKCMvint.IFN-α-2a plasmid was significant higher than control group (P＜0.05), while total liver lymphocytes and HBV-specific CD8+T cells had a similar trend. Consistently, the HBV-specific CD8+T cells in IFN-α-expressing animals showed higher level of producing IFN-γ, TNF-α and IL-2 than control group. IFN-γ production was significantly different between IFN-α- expressing group and control group (P＜0.05). Conclusions IFN-α can increase the frequency and function of liver CD8+T cells to inhibit HBV gene expression in chronic HBV infection mouse model.
