Journal
IMMUNOLOGY LETTERS
Volume 212, Issue -, Pages 46-52Publisher
ELSEVIER
DOI: 10.1016/j.imlet.2019.06.003
Keywords
Hepatitis C virus; Regulatory T cell; Neutralizing antibody; Lymphocyte activation gene-3; Follicular helper T cell
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Funding
- Natural Science Foundation of China [81471959, 81501746]
- Clinical Medical Innovation Technology Guide Project of Hunan Province [2018SK5030, 2018SK50304, 2018SK50308]
- Science Foundation of The First People's Hospital of Chenzhou [N2018-001]
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Lymphocyte activation gene-3 (LAG-3), an inhibitory molecule, which has been shown co-expressed with multiple inhibitory receptors on CD8(+) T and natural killer (NK) cells and negatively regulates T and NK cell responses during hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection. However, whether LAG-3 is involved in the regulation of the antibody response remains unclear. This study aims to investigate the relationship of LAG-3 with neutralizing antibody (nAb) response during HCV infection. A total of 66 HCV-infected individuals and 36 sex- and age-matched healthy controls from a population of intravenous drug users were recruited. Circulating follicular helper T (cTfh) cells and LAG-3-expressing CD4(+) T cells, type 1 regulatory T (Tr1) cells, and regulatory T (Treg) cells were characterized by flow cytometry. Serum nAb response of HCV-infected individuals was determined using pseudoparticle neutralization assays. We found that HCV infection enhanced LAG-3 expression on CD4(+) T cells and exhibited regulatory T cell-like phenotype and inversely associated with the HCV nAb response. Further analysis showed that frequency of CXCR3(+) cTfh cells positively correlated with nAb response, however LAG-3(+) CD4(+) T cells inversely associated with CXCR3(+) cTfh cells. This study observed that LAG-3(+) CD4(+) T cells exhibit a regulatory cell phenotype and negatively associate with the HCV nAb response, implying that LAG-3 may be involved in the negative regulation of humoral immunity during HCV infection.
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