Lu M, Roggendorf M
Institut für Virologie, Universitätsklinikum Essen, Essen, Deutschland.
Intervirology. 2001;44(2-3):124-31. doi: 10.1159/000050039.
The woodchuck model is most suitable for vaccine studies of prophylaxis and therapeutic treatment of hepatitis B virus infection. Recently, methodological advances allowed the examination of antigen-specific T cell responses in woodchucks during woodchuck hepatitis virus (WHV) infection and vaccinations. Similar to hepatitis B virus infection in humans, multispecific T-cell responses to WHV occur during acute self-limiting infection in woodchucks. Immunizations with WHV core antigen (WHcAg) or DNA vaccines expressing WHcAg demonstrated that priming of specific T-cell responses leads to the control of WHV infection. B-cell responses but no T-cell responses to WHV surface antigens (WHsAg) were induced in chronically WHV-infected woodchucks by the therapeutic immunizations with WHsAg. Breaking T-cell tolerance appears to be critical for immunotherapeutic approaches to chronic hepatitis B.
土拨鼠模型最适合用于乙型肝炎病毒感染的预防和治疗性疫苗研究。最近，方法学的进展使得在土拨鼠感染土拨鼠肝炎病毒（WHV）及接种疫苗期间能够检测其抗原特异性T细胞反应。与人类的乙型肝炎病毒感染相似，土拨鼠在急性自限性感染期间会出现对WHV的多特异性T细胞反应。用WHV核心抗原（WHcAg）或表达WHcAg的DNA疫苗进行免疫接种表明，特异性T细胞反应的启动可导致对WHV感染的控制。通过用WHsAg进行治疗性免疫接种，在慢性感染WHV的土拨鼠中诱导出了针对WHV表面抗原（WHsAg）的B细胞反应，但未诱导出T细胞反应。打破T细胞耐受性似乎是慢性乙型肝炎免疫治疗方法的关键。
