Characterization of in-vitro responses to immune modulation of HBV core18-specific vs HBV pol455-specific CD8+ T cells

Introduction and aim Currently several new therapeutic strategies including direct antiviral treatments and immunomodulatory options are being developed aiming at functional cure (HBsAg loss) of chronic HBV infection (CHB). One option to modulate immune responses to achieve higher rates of HBsAg loss is to restore the exhausted T cell response. Recently, it has been reported that T cells targeting different HBV epitopes can be phenotypically and functionally different. However, the restoration capacity of these T cells has not been investigated. Thus, we studied the phenotype, function and the restoration capacity of HBV core18- and pol455-specific CD8+ T cells from patients with CHB.