Studies of Immune Responses in Patients With Chronic Hepatitis B

NCT00155155 · Status: COMPLETED · Type: OBSERVATIONAL · Enrollment: 100

Last updated 2008-12-02

No results posted yet for this study

Summary

Taiwan is a hyperendemic area of hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection. Previous studies demonstrated vigorous T cell responses to HBV-encoded antigens developed in patients with self-limited acute hepatitis B. In contrast, weak or no T cell responses could be detected in chronic hepatitis B (CH-B) patients. However, these immune responses are still not well known in patients with acute exacerbation (AE) of CH-B and in patients with advanced liver diseases, such as liver cirrhosis (LC) and hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). The CD4+CD25+ regulatory T cells might suppress immune responses against foreign antigens and pathogens. The roles of CD4+CD25+ regulatory T cells in patients chronically infected with HBV remain to be clarified. The high percentage of HBV carriers in Taiwan are related to the vertical transmissions. High maternal HBV viral load may make the newborns tolerant to the HBV. However, the HBV-specific CD8+ T cells responses in the cord bloods of newborns are still unknown. Thus, we want to resolve these issues in this study. We will enroll the HBsAg (+) patients from NTUH. Blood samples will be collected. We will then analyze the HBV-specific CD8+ T cell responses and the clarify the roles of regulatory T cells.

Conditions

Sponsors & Collaborators

  • National Taiwan University Hospital

    lead OTHER

Principal Investigators

  • Chien-Hung Chen, MD · National Taiwan University Hospital

Eligibility

Sex
ALL
Healthy Volunteers
No

Timeline & Regulatory

Start
2005-05-31
Primary Completion
2008-04-30

Countries

  • Taiwan

Study Locations

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Entities

Diseases

Read the full study record

This page highlights key information. For complete eligibility criteria, study locations, investigator contacts, and the full protocol, visit the original record on ClinicalTrials.gov.

View NCT00155155 on ClinicalTrials.gov