Identification of an epitope for T-cells correlated with antibody response to hepatitis B surface antigen in vaccinated humans

CD4 T-cell autoreactivity to the mitochondrial autoantigen PDC-E2 in AMA-negative primary biliary cirrhosis

“…We should also note that previous work on identification of T-cell epitopes, for the most part, correlates with antibody production, exemplified by the response to hepatitis B surface antigen following vaccination. However, two distinct antigenic T-cell epitopes, coined HBs 16-31 and HBs 81-99, were identified following vaccination, and the antibody response to HBs 81-99 correlated better with antibody levels than did the response to HBs 16-31 [19]. We should also note that individuals have been reported with HIV infection who have robust CD4 and CD8 responses but low levels of HIV neutralizing antibodies [20].…”

Comparative analysis of HLA restriction and cytokine production in hepatitis B surface antigen-specific T cells from low- and high-antibody responders in vaccinated humans

“…However, the combined correlation coefficient of the entire HLA gene family with HBsAgspecific Ab production is 0.50 by multiple regression analysis, indicating that not only the HLA multigene family but also other factor(s) significantly influence the immune response to HBsAg. In addition, we also found that even low-Ab responders showed HBsAg-specific T-cell proliferation in vitro in many instances (Mineta et al 1996;Min et al 1996). These observations tempted us to investigate cellular mechanisms to determine the diversity of the Ab response to this Ag in humans.…”

Identification of novel HLA-DR1-restricted epitopes from the hepatitis B virus envelope protein in mice expressing HLA-DR1 and vaccinated human subjects

“…HBs-specific cytotoxic HLA class II-restricted CD4 þ T cells were detected in humans [7], and many studies have shown that patients recovering spontaneously from the infection develop a strong, polyclonal HBV HTL response. HTL epitopes have been identified in HBsAg [8], hepatitis Be antigen, HBcAg [9] and polymerase protein [10]. In chronically infected subjects, the HTL response is defective, notably in cytokine secretion, which has a tendency to shift from a Th 1 to a Th 0 /Th 2 response [11].…”