- Autores: Larissa Deadame de Figueiredo Nicolete, Celso Vladimiro Cunha, Mariana Tomazini Pinto, Evandra Strazza Rodrigues, Simone Kashima, Dimas Tadeu Covas, Juan Miguel Villalobos-Salcedo, Roberto Nicolete
- Ano de Publicação: 2020
- Journal: International Immunopharmacology
The treatment for hepatitis Delta virus (HDV) still consists of Pegylated interferon (PEG-IFN) combined with inhibitors of Hepatitis B virus (HBV) replication. In some patients may be occur a virological response, which means a negative HDV RNA 6 months after stopping treatment. In this study it was conducted an in vitro approach with the aim to mimic possible immunological events that are observed in patients responding to PEGIFN therapy. Jurkat cells (human T lymphocyte cell line) were employed alone or co-cultured with THP-1 (human monocytic cell line) and stimulated with controls and HBV Surface Antigen (HBsAg), Small-Delta Antigen (SHDAg), and HBsAg + SHDAg combined. Twenty-four hours stimulation with SHDAg and/or HBSAg led to a toxic profile in a co-culture condition and cell supernatants were collected for cytokines quantification. PEGIFN was added and cells were incubated for additional 24 h. Co-cultured cells incubated with the association (SHDAg + PEG IFN) significantly produced levels of IFN-γ, IL-2 and IL-12. On the other hand, the HBsAg alone was able to inhibit the production of IFN-γ, suggesting that this antigen may hinder the treatment exclusively with PEG-IFN.
