Premium
Regulation of the Immune Response to Hepatitis B Virus and Human Serum Albumin
Author(s) -
HELLSTRÖM U. B.,
SYLVAN S. P. E.
Publication year - 1989
Publication title -
scandinavian journal of immunology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.934
H-Index - 88
eISSN - 1365-3083
pISSN - 0300-9475
DOI - 10.1111/j.1365-3083.1989.tb01194.x
Subject(s) - hbsag , hepatitis b virus , human serum albumin , immunology , antibody , secretion , immune system , in vivo , hepatitis b , virology , antigen , virus , biology , albumin , medicine , endocrinology , biochemistry , microbiology and biotechnology
Peripheral B and T cells sensitized to human serum albumin (USA) were found in a cohort of patients chronically infected with hepatitis B virus (HBV). Throughout this study, two groups of symptomatic chronic hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg) earners could be distinguished, characterized by divergent T‐cell regulation of the spontaneous IgG anti‐HSA secretion. Patients in a quiescent phase of the disease [patients with chronic persistent hepatitis B (CPH), anti‐HBe reactivity and absence of viral replication, group A] bad circulatory in vivo HBsAg‐HSA preactivated B cells with the capacity to secrete spontaneously IgG antibodies with specificity for HSA when isolated and cultured. The addition of autologous T lymphocytes at a T/B‐cell ratio of 8,0 suppressed the spontaneous anti‐HSA secretion. In contrast, patients in an active stage of the disease exhibited in vivo preactivated T cell sensitized helper cell functions on the spontaneous IgG anti‐USA secretion Memory T cells, sensitized to low concentrations of HbsAg‐HSA with disparate regulatory functions, were also detectable in the two groups of patients.