Current treatment for chronic HBV infection is mainly based on nucleos(t)ide analogues, that in most cases need to be administered for a patient's lifetime. There is therefore a pressing need to develop new therapeutic strategies to shorten antiviral treatments. A severe dysfunction of virus-specific T cell responses contributes to virus persistence; hence, immune-modulation to reconstitute an efficient host antiviral response is considered a potential approach for HBV cure. In this perspective, a detailed understanding of the different causes of T cell exhaustion is essential for the design of successful functional T cell correction strategies. Among many different mechanisms which are widely believed to play a role in T cell dysfunction, persistent T cell exposure to high antigen burden, in particular HBsAg, is expected to influence T cell differentiation and function. Definitive evidence of the possibility to improve anti-viral T cell functions by antigen decline is, however, still lacking. This review aims at recapitulating what we have learned so far on the complex T cell-viral antigen interplay in chronic HBV infection.

Antigen Load and T Cell Function: A Challenging Interaction in HBV Infection / Montali, Ilaria; Vecchi, Andrea; Rossi, Marzia; Tiezzi, Camilla; Penna, Amalia; Reverberi, Valentina; Laccabue, Diletta; Missale, Gabriele; Boni, Carolina; Fisicaro, Paola. - In: BIOMEDICINES. - ISSN 2227-9059. - 10:6(2022), p. 1224. [10.3390/biomedicines10061224]

Antigen Load and T Cell Function: A Challenging Interaction in HBV Infection

Montali, Ilaria;Vecchi, Andrea;Rossi, Marzia;Tiezzi, Camilla;Laccabue, Diletta;Missale, Gabriele;Boni, Carolina;Fisicaro, Paola
2022-01-01

Abstract

Current treatment for chronic HBV infection is mainly based on nucleos(t)ide analogues, that in most cases need to be administered for a patient's lifetime. There is therefore a pressing need to develop new therapeutic strategies to shorten antiviral treatments. A severe dysfunction of virus-specific T cell responses contributes to virus persistence; hence, immune-modulation to reconstitute an efficient host antiviral response is considered a potential approach for HBV cure. In this perspective, a detailed understanding of the different causes of T cell exhaustion is essential for the design of successful functional T cell correction strategies. Among many different mechanisms which are widely believed to play a role in T cell dysfunction, persistent T cell exposure to high antigen burden, in particular HBsAg, is expected to influence T cell differentiation and function. Definitive evidence of the possibility to improve anti-viral T cell functions by antigen decline is, however, still lacking. This review aims at recapitulating what we have learned so far on the complex T cell-viral antigen interplay in chronic HBV infection.
2022
Antigen Load and T Cell Function: A Challenging Interaction in HBV Infection / Montali, Ilaria; Vecchi, Andrea; Rossi, Marzia; Tiezzi, Camilla; Penna, Amalia; Reverberi, Valentina; Laccabue, Diletta; Missale, Gabriele; Boni, Carolina; Fisicaro, Paola. - In: BIOMEDICINES. - ISSN 2227-9059. - 10:6(2022), p. 1224. [10.3390/biomedicines10061224]
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Utilizza questo identificativo per citare o creare un link a questo documento: https://hdl.handle.net/11381/2933394
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