Suppression of HCV-specific T cells without differential hierarchy demonstrated ex vivo in persistent HCV infection

K Sugimoto, F Ikeda, J Stadanlick, FA Nunes, HJ Alter… - Hepatology, 2003 - Elsevier
Hepatitis C virus (HCV) has a high propensity for persistence. To better define the
immunologic determinants of HCV clearance and persistence, we examined the circulating
HCV-specific T-cell frequency, repertoire, and cytokine phenotype ex vivo in 24 HCV
seropositive subjects (12 chronic, 12 recovered), using 361 overlapping peptides in 36
antigenic pools that span the entire HCV core, NS3-NS5. Consistent with T-cell-mediated
control of HCV, the overall HCV-specific type-1 T-cell response was significantly greater in …