Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2005 Sep;35(9):2627-37.
doi: 10.1002/eji.200526067.

Positive selection of cytotoxic T lymphocyte escape variants during acute hepatitis C virus infection

Silvia Guglietta  1 , Anna Rosa Garbuglia, Valentina Pacciani, Cristiano Scottà, Maria Paola Perrone, Luca Laurenti, Enea Spada, Alfonso Mele, Maria Rosaria Capobianchi, Gloria Taliani, Antonella Folgori, Alessandra Vitelli, Lionello Ruggeri, Alfredo Nicosia, Enza Piccolella, Paola Del Porto
Affiliations
Free article

Positive selection of cytotoxic T lymphocyte escape variants during acute hepatitis C virus infection

Silvia Guglietta et al. Eur J Immunol. 2005 Sep.
Free article

Abstract

Cellular immune responses are induced during hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection and acute-phase CD8+ T cells are supposed to play an important role in controlling viral replication. In chimpanzees, failure of CD8+ T cells to control HCV replication has been associated with acquisition of mutations in MHC class I-restricted epitopes. In humans, although selection of escape mutations in an immunodominant CTL epitope has been recently described, the overall impact of immune escape during acute HCV infection is unclear. Here, by performing an in depth analysis of the relationship between early cellular immune responses and viral evolution in a chronically evolving HCV acutely infected individual, we demonstrate: (i) the presence of a potent and focused CD8(+ T cell response against a novel epitope in the NS3 protein, (ii) the elimination of the quasi-species harboring the original amino acid sequence within this epitope, and (iii) the selection for a virus population bearing amino acid changes at a single residue within the cytotoxic T cell epitope that strongly diminished T cell recognition. These results support the view that acute-phase CD8+ T cell responses exert a biologically relevant pressure on HCV replication and that viruses escaping this host response could have a significant survival advantage.

PubMed Disclaimer

Similar articles

See all similar articles

Cited by

See all "Cited by" articles

Publication types

MeSH terms