B7-DC-silenced dendritic cells induce stronger anti-HBV immunity in transgenic mice

  • Yan Fan
  • , Wen Zheng Jiang*
  • , Jie Jun Wen
  • , Wen Li Hao
  • , Jia Ni Du
  • , Xia Liu
  • , Min Qian
  • *Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

3 Scopus citations

Abstract

Hepatitis B virus (HBV) is a noncytopathic DNA virus and is the pathogen of acute and chronic hepatitis. Interferon and nucleotide analogues such as lamivudine and adefovir are the current treatment strategies of HBV infection; however, it is still a serious disease. Therefore, the development of new therapeutic options against HBV is needed. In the present study, we have investigated whether the vectors carrying short hairpin RNA (shRNA) targeting the murine B7-DC gene could silence the expression of B7-DC and analyzed the function of gene-modified dendritic cells (DCs) by mixed lymphocyte reaction. The results demonstrated that two shRNA vectors efficiently suppressed the expression of B7-DC. The MLR assay showed that shRNA-B7-DC-transfected DCs induced markedly higher allogeneic lymphocyte proliferation than transfected DCs with the vector plasmid pAS and untreated DCs at all dilutions. The most efficient shRNA plasmid vector against B7-DC was then used to silence the expression of B7-DC on DCs, the gene-modified DCs were pulsed with HBV-specific peptides, and HBV transgenic mice were immunized. After three rounds of immunization, the splenocytes were stimulated in vitro and tested for cytotoxicitic T lymphocyte activity, while the sera were used to detect the level of HBsAg and HBV DNA. The data demonstrated that blockade of B7-DC on DCs augmented the cytolytic activity induced by immunization with peptide-pulsed DCs and significantly reduced the concentration of serum HBsAg and HBV DNA, suggesting that silencing of B7-DC is of potential value in DC-based therapy of HBV infection.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)1813-1821
Number of pages9
JournalArchives of Virology
Volume154
Issue number11
DOIs
StatePublished - Oct 2009

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