Biomaterial Database

Cellular immune responses against hepatitis C virus: the evidence base 2002. 2002

S Ward, and G Lauer, and R Isba, and B Walker, and P Klenerman

Nuffield Department of Medicine, Oxford, UK.

Hepatitis C virus (HCV) is an RNA virus which is estimated to persistently infect about 170 million people worldwide. After acute infection, there is an initial period during which long-term outcome is decided. There is strong evidence that the cellular immune responses, involving both CD4+ and CD8+ T lymphocytes, are involved at this stage and it is their effectiveness which determines outcome. What is not understood is what determines their effectiveness. The most important component of this is likely to be some aspect of epitope selection, itself dictated by host MHC. Thus, to understand host immunity to HCV, we need to have a detailed understanding of the peptides involved in T lymphocyte responses. In this review, we discuss the peptide epitopes that have been identified so far, and their potential significance. We relate this to a scheme of host defence which may be useful for understanding natural and vaccine-induced immunity.

UI	MeSH Term	Description	Entries
D007111	Immunity, Cellular	Manifestations of the immune response which are mediated by antigen-sensitized T-lymphocytes via lymphokines or direct cytotoxicity. This takes place in the absence of circulating antibody or where antibody plays a subordinate role.	Cell-Mediated Immunity,Cellular Immune Response,Cell Mediated Immunity,Cell-Mediated Immunities,Cellular Immune Responses,Cellular Immunities,Cellular Immunity,Immune Response, Cellular,Immune Responses, Cellular,Immunities, Cell-Mediated,Immunities, Cellular,Immunity, Cell-Mediated,Response, Cellular Immune
D006526	Hepatitis C	INFLAMMATION of the LIVER in humans caused by HEPATITIS C VIRUS, a single-stranded RNA virus. Its incubation period is 30-90 days. Hepatitis C is transmitted primarily by contaminated blood parenterally and is often associated with transfusion and intravenous drug abuse. However, in a significant number of cases, the source of hepatitis C infection is unknown.	Hepatitis, Viral, Non-A, Non-B, Parenterally-Transmitted,Parenterally-Transmitted Non-A, Non-B Hepatitis,PT-NANBH,Parenterally Transmitted Non A, Non B Hepatitis
D006801	Humans	Members of the species Homo sapiens.	Homo sapiens,Man (Taxonomy),Human,Man, Modern,Modern Man
D014765	Viral Vaccines	Suspensions of attenuated or killed viruses administered for the prevention or treatment of infectious viral disease.	Viral Vaccine,Vaccine, Viral,Vaccines, Viral
D015496	CD4-Positive T-Lymphocytes	A critical subpopulation of T-lymphocytes involved in the induction of most immunological functions. The HIV virus has selective tropism for the T4 cell which expresses the CD4 phenotypic marker, a receptor for HIV. In fact, the key element in the profound immunosuppression seen in HIV infection is the depletion of this subset of T-lymphocytes.	T4 Cells,T4 Lymphocytes,CD4-Positive Lymphocytes,CD4 Positive T Lymphocytes,CD4-Positive Lymphocyte,CD4-Positive T-Lymphocyte,Lymphocyte, CD4-Positive,Lymphocytes, CD4-Positive,T-Lymphocyte, CD4-Positive,T-Lymphocytes, CD4-Positive,T4 Cell,T4 Lymphocyte
D016174	Hepacivirus	A genus of FLAVIVIRIDAE causing parenterally-transmitted HEPATITIS C which is associated with transfusions and drug abuse. Hepatitis C virus is the type species.	Hepatitis C virus,Hepatitis C-Like Viruses,Hepaciviruses,Hepatitis C Like Viruses,Hepatitis C viruses,Hepatitis C-Like Virus
D018414	CD8-Positive T-Lymphocytes	A critical subpopulation of regulatory T-lymphocytes involved in MHC Class I-restricted interactions. They include both cytotoxic T-lymphocytes (T-LYMPHOCYTES, CYTOTOXIC) and CD8+ suppressor T-lymphocytes.	Suppressor T-Lymphocytes, CD8-Positive,T8 Cells,T8 Lymphocytes,CD8-Positive Lymphocytes,Suppressor T-Cells, CD8-Positive,CD8 Positive Lymphocytes,CD8 Positive T Lymphocytes,CD8-Positive Lymphocyte,CD8-Positive Suppressor T-Cell,CD8-Positive Suppressor T-Cells,CD8-Positive Suppressor T-Lymphocyte,CD8-Positive Suppressor T-Lymphocytes,CD8-Positive T-Lymphocyte,Cell, T8,Cells, T8,Lymphocyte, CD8-Positive,Lymphocyte, T8,Lymphocytes, CD8-Positive,Lymphocytes, T8,Suppressor T Cells, CD8 Positive,Suppressor T Lymphocytes, CD8 Positive,Suppressor T-Cell, CD8-Positive,Suppressor T-Lymphocyte, CD8-Positive,T-Cell, CD8-Positive Suppressor,T-Cells, CD8-Positive Suppressor,T-Lymphocyte, CD8-Positive,T-Lymphocyte, CD8-Positive Suppressor,T-Lymphocytes, CD8-Positive,T-Lymphocytes, CD8-Positive Suppressor,T8 Cell,T8 Lymphocyte
D018984	Epitopes, T-Lymphocyte	Antigenic determinants recognized and bound by the T-cell receptor. Epitopes recognized by the T-cell receptor are often located in the inner, unexposed side of the antigen, and become accessible to the T-cell receptors after proteolytic processing of the antigen.	T-Cell Epitopes,T-Lymphocyte Epitopes,T-Cell Epitope,T-Lymphocyte Epitope,Epitope, T-Cell,Epitope, T-Lymphocyte,Epitopes, T Lymphocyte,Epitopes, T-Cell,T Cell Epitope,T Cell Epitopes,T Lymphocyte Epitope,T Lymphocyte Epitopes