Immune Netw.  2016 Dec;16(6):330-336. 10.4110/in.2016.16.6.330.

Regulatory T Cells in Hepatitis B and C Virus Infections

Affiliations
  • 1Laboratory of Immunology and Infectious Diseases, Graduate School of Medical Science and Engineering, KAIST, Daejeon 34141, Korea. jungmk@kaist.ac.kr ecshin@kaist.ac.kr

Abstract

Hepatitis B virus (HBV) and hepatitis C virus (HCV) are hepatotropic viruses that establish chronic persistent infection by effectively escaping the host immune response and can cause immune-mediated liver injury. It has recently become apparent that regulatory T (Treg) cells, specifically CD4⁺CD25⁺Foxp3⁺ Treg cells, modulate viral diseases by suppressing antiviral immune responses and regulating inflammatory host injury. The roles of Treg cells in HBV and HCV infections range from suppressing antiviral T cell responses to protecting the liver from immune-mediated damage. This review describes Treg cells and subpopulations and focuses on the roles of these cells in HBV and HCV infections.

Keyword

Regulatory T cell; Hepatitis B virus; Hepatitis C virus

MeSH Terms

Hepacivirus
Hepatitis B virus
Hepatitis B*
Hepatitis*
Liver
T-Lymphocytes, Regulatory*
United Nations
Virus Diseases

Figure

  • Figure 1 The subpopulation of human Treg cells. Three distinct subpopulations of human Treg cells are defined based on the expression level of CD45RA and Foxp3 as follows: CD45RA+Foxp3low resting Treg cells (subpopulation I), CD45RA−Foxp3high activated Treg cells (subpopulation II), and CD45RA−Foxp3low cytokine-secreting non-suppressive cells (subpopulation III) (32).


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