Dendritic cells from chronic hepatitis B patients can induce HBV antigen-specific T cell responses

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Figure 1 Morphology of dendritic cells after 7 and 9 d. A: Cluster of DCs after 9 d (light microscope, × 100) ; B: A DC on day 7 (scanning electron microscope, × 5000) ; C: A DC on day 7 (transmitting electron microscope, × 5000).

Figure 2 Effect of TNF-α on DC secretion of IL-12.

Figure 3 MLR of DCs against allogeneic T cells.

Figure 4 Cytokine secretion of peptide-reactive T cells induced by DCs from one CHB patient. T cells from one CHB patient was incubated with autologous DCs pulsed with the HBV-specific peptide HBcAg 18-27 (Peptide) or without peptide (No peptide), and T cell response was detected by flow cytometry by measuring cytokine secretion by the activated T cells. The dot-plots show levels of intracellular staining for IFN-γ, IL-2 and TNF-α (y-axis) and surface CD8 molecule (x-axis). The number in the upper-right quadrant indicates the percentage of CD8-positive T cells that secret cytokines.

Figure 5 T cell cytotoxicity induced by DCs in CHB patients. DC+pep+T: T cells induced by DCs loaded with specific peptide; DC+T: T cells induced by DCs without peptide; T₂+pep: pep-tide-loaded target cells; T₂: target cells.