Study of the roles of innate immunity on acute and chronic hepatitis C by a novel non-human primate model

我们的目的是通过一种新的非人灵长类动物模型来阐明先天免疫在急性和慢性丙型肝炎中的作用。首先，我们建立了罗望子素NK细胞活性的量化体系。然后我们发现，静脉注射抗CD16单抗3G8 50 mg/kg能成功地耗尽CD16+NK细胞，这与NK细胞介导的细胞毒作用的降低是一致的。值得注意的是，从CD16+NK细胞耗尽的Tamarins中获得的血液中观察到较低但可检测到的NK活性水平，表明存在少量CD16-NK亚群。通过建立这些检测系统，我们正在分析CD16+NK细胞在GBV-B复制动力学中的作用。GBV-B与丙型肝炎病毒密切相关，被归类为庚型肝炎病毒属。根据所获得的结果，我们希望在不久的将来详细研究NK细胞在控制肝炎病毒持久性方面的作用。

We aimed to clarify the role of innate immunity during acute and chronic hepatitis C by a novel non-human primate model. First of all, we established a quantification system of NK cell activity of tamarins. We then found that the intravenous administration of an anti-CD16 monoclonal antibody 3G8 at a dose of 50mg/kg to tamarins successfully depleted CD16+ NK cells, which was consistent with the reduction of NK cell-mediated cytotoxicity. It is notable that lowered but detectable levels of NK activity were observed in the blood obtained from the CD16+ NK cell-depleted tamarins, indicating the presence of a minor CD16-NK subpopulation. By using these assay systems we established, analyses of the roles of the CD16+ NK cells on dynamics of the replication of GBV-B, which is closely related to hepatitis C virus and is classified in genus hepachivirus, and antiviral acquired immune responses in the virus-infected tamarins are now ongoing. On the basis of the results obtained, we would like to examine in detail regarding the roles of NK cells on the control of persistency of the hepatitis virus in near future.