Lopez-Scarim Jarrett, Nambiar Shashank Manohar, Billerbeck Eva
Division of Hepatology, Department of Medicine and Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Bronx, NY 10461, USA.
Vaccines (Basel). 2023 Mar 17;11(3):681. doi: 10.3390/vaccines11030681.
T cells play an important role in the clearance of hepatotropic viruses but may also cause liver injury and contribute to disease progression in chronic hepatitis B and C virus infections which affect millions of people worldwide. The liver provides a unique microenvironment of immunological tolerance and hepatic immune regulation can modulate the functional properties of T cell subsets and influence the outcome of a virus infection. Extensive research over the last years has advanced our understanding of hepatic conventional CD4+ and CD8+ T cells and unconventional T cell subsets and their functions in the liver environment during acute and chronic viral infections. The recent development of new small animal models and technological advances should further increase our knowledge of hepatic immunological mechanisms. Here we provide an overview of the existing models to study hepatic T cells and review the current knowledge about the distinct roles of heterogeneous T cell populations during acute and chronic viral hepatitis.
T细胞在嗜肝病毒的清除中发挥重要作用，但在慢性乙型和丙型肝炎病毒感染中也可能导致肝损伤并促进疾病进展，全球数以百万计的人受此影响。肝脏提供了一个独特的免疫耐受微环境，肝脏免疫调节可调节T细胞亚群的功能特性并影响病毒感染的结果。过去几年的广泛研究增进了我们对肝脏中传统CD4+和CD8+ T细胞以及非常规T细胞亚群及其在急性和慢性病毒感染期间在肝脏环境中功能的理解。新的小动物模型的最新发展和技术进步应进一步增加我们对肝脏免疫机制的认识。在此，我们概述了用于研究肝脏T细胞的现有模型，并回顾了关于异质性T细胞群体在急性和慢性病毒性肝炎中不同作用的当前知识。
