Anti-HBc IgG Responses Occurring at the Early Phase of Infection Correlate Negatively with HBV Replication in a Mouse Model
Xuyang Wang,
Yumeng Zhang,
Yinyin Ben,
Chao Qiu,
Jing Wu,
Wenhong Zhang,
Yanmin Wan
Affiliations
Xuyang Wang
Shanghai Key Laboratory of Infectious Diseases and Biosafety Emergency Response, National Medical Center for Infectious Diseases, Department of Infectious Diseases, Huashan Hospital, Shanghai Medical College, Fudan University, Shanghai 200040, China
Yumeng Zhang
Shanghai Key Laboratory of Infectious Diseases and Biosafety Emergency Response, National Medical Center for Infectious Diseases, Department of Infectious Diseases, Huashan Hospital, Shanghai Medical College, Fudan University, Shanghai 200040, China
Yinyin Ben
Shanghai Key Laboratory of Infectious Diseases and Biosafety Emergency Response, National Medical Center for Infectious Diseases, Department of Infectious Diseases, Huashan Hospital, Shanghai Medical College, Fudan University, Shanghai 200040, China
Chao Qiu
Key Laboratory of Medical Molecular Virology (MOE/MOH), Institutes of Biomedical Sciences, Shanghai Medical College, Fudan University, Shanghai 200032, China
Jing Wu
Shanghai Key Laboratory of Infectious Diseases and Biosafety Emergency Response, National Medical Center for Infectious Diseases, Department of Infectious Diseases, Huashan Hospital, Shanghai Medical College, Fudan University, Shanghai 200040, China
Wenhong Zhang
Shanghai Key Laboratory of Infectious Diseases and Biosafety Emergency Response, National Medical Center for Infectious Diseases, Department of Infectious Diseases, Huashan Hospital, Shanghai Medical College, Fudan University, Shanghai 200040, China
Yanmin Wan
Shanghai Key Laboratory of Infectious Diseases and Biosafety Emergency Response, National Medical Center for Infectious Diseases, Department of Infectious Diseases, Huashan Hospital, Shanghai Medical College, Fudan University, Shanghai 200040, China
Anti-HBc IgG is usually recognized as a diagnostic marker of hepatitis B, while the functional role anti-HBc IgG in HBV infection has not been fully elucidated. In this study, we firstly investigated the relationship between the anti-HBc IgG responses and the replication of HBV using AAV8-1.3HBV infected C57BL/6N mice. Our data showed that the anti-HBc IgG responses at the early phase of infection correlated negatively with the concentrations of circulating HBsAg and HBV DNA at both the early and chronic phases of infection. This observation was confirmed by an independent experiment using AAV8-1.3HBV infected C57BL/6J mice. Furthermore, to comprehend the potential causal relationship between the anti-HBc IgG responses and HBV infection, mice were treated with an anti-HBc monoclonal antibody at three days post AAV8-1.3HBV infection. Our data showed that the anti-HBc mAb significantly suppressed the fold increase of circulating HBsAg level, and the protective effect was not affected by NK cell depletion. Collectively, our study demonstrated that anti-HBc antibodies occurring at the early phase of HBV infection may contribute to the constraint of the virus replication, which might be developed as an immunotherapy for hepatitis B.
