López-Labrador F Xavier, He Xiao-Song, Berenguer Marina, Cheung Ramsey C, Wright Teresa L, Greenberg Harry B
Department of Medicine (Gastroenterology and Hepatology), Stanford University School of Medicine, CA 94305, USA.
J Immunol Methods. 2004 Apr;287(1-2):91-9. doi: 10.1016/j.jim.2004.01.023.
BACKGROUND/AIMS: New methods to detect virus-specific T-cell responses have recently been developed. Several human leukocyte antigen (HLA)-peptide tetramers for the detection of hepatitis C virus (HCV)-specific CD8(+) T cells are under evaluation.
Evaluation of one HLA class I-tetramer (HCVNS3-2) for the detection of HCV NS3-specific CD8(+) T cells in a series of 38 HLA-A2(+) chronically infected patients.
Almost half (42%) of the patients had detectable NS3-specific CD8(+) T cells. The frequencies of such cells ranged from 0.01% to 0.22% of total CD8(+) T cells. No significant differences in clinical features or mean viral load were detected between patients with or without tetramer + CD8(+) T cells.
The tetramer HCVNS3-2 may be very useful for the study of the HCV-specific CD8(+) immune response. Combination of this reagent with other tetramers based on other HCV peptides may help in the understanding of the immune response to the virus. However, a panel of tetramers based on several parts of the HCV polyprotein may be a mandatory requirement to explore the whole breadth of the CD8(+) T-cell response against HCV and to detect that response in the majority of patients with chronic infection.
背景/目的：最近已开发出检测病毒特异性T细胞反应的新方法。几种用于检测丙型肝炎病毒（HCV）特异性CD8(+) T细胞的人白细胞抗原（HLA）-肽四聚体正在评估中。
在38例HLA-A2(+)慢性感染患者中，评估一种HLA I类四聚体（HCVNS3-2）检测HCV NS3特异性CD8(+) T细胞的能力。
近一半（42%）的患者可检测到NS3特异性CD8(+) T细胞。此类细胞频率占总CD8(+) T细胞的0.01%至0.22%。在有或没有四聚体+ CD8(+) T细胞的患者之间，未检测到临床特征或平均病毒载量的显著差异。
四聚体HCVNS3-2可能对研究HCV特异性CD8(+)免疫反应非常有用。将该试剂与基于其他HCV肽的其他四聚体联合使用，可能有助于理解对该病毒的免疫反应。然而，基于HCV多聚蛋白几个部分的一组四聚体可能是探索针对HCV的CD8(+) T细胞反应的整个广度以及在大多数慢性感染患者中检测该反应的必要条件。
