Intrahepatic regulation of antiviral T cell responses at initial stages of viral infection

Abstract

It is generally accepted that the appropriate boost of early immune response will control viral replications and limit the immune-mediated pathology in viral hepatitis. However, poor immunity results in viral persistence, chronic inflammation and finally liver cirrhosis and carcinoma. As a peripheral non-lymphoid organ of immune surveillance, the liver continually encounters hundreds of molecules from the blood, including nutrients, toxins and pathogens. In this way, the liver maintains immune tolerance under healthy conditions, but responds quickly to the hepatotropic pathogens during the early stages of an infection. Although our knowledge of liver cell compositions and functions has been improved significantly in recent years, the intrahepatic immune regulation of antiviral T cells at the initial stage is complex and not well elucidated. Here, we summarize the role of liver cell subpopulations in regulating antiviral T cell response at the initial stages of viral infection. A better understanding of early hepatic immune regulation will pave the way for the development of novel therapies and vaccine design for human viral hepatitis.

Myeloid C-Type Lectin Receptors in Viral Recognition and Antiviral Immunity

“…LSECtin was described to regulate intrahepatic T cell immunity and to limit liver injury in a model of induced experimental acute hepatitis [79,80]. Using LSECtin-deficient mice in adenovirus infection and HBV replication as murine models for viral hepatitis, Liu et al .…”

Killing the competition: a theoretical framework for liver-stage malaria

“…Moreover, HT gives rise to a spatial pattern of immune alert that resembles the spreading of a virus in the liver. The cell damage caused by migrating parasites in traversed hepatocytes [118] and the release of dsRNA in their cytoplasm would create in the host the impression of an ongoing viral infection [119][120][121]. The activation and propagation of the type I IFN pathway would be the natural response to this stimulus [106,122,123].…”