Hepatitis C Virus Induces Regulatory T Cells by Naturally Occurring Viral Variants to Suppress T Cell Responses
Figure 9
Tetramer-positive cells suppress T cell proliferation in a dose-dependent manner. P.B3019 PBMCs were stained with pooled variants of H369R, S370P, and K371E (black), CLIP (light gray), or WT NS3358–375 (dark gray) and removed by bead depletion. After tetramer depletion, the cultures were stimulated with NS3358–375 peptide. Tetramer-positive cells were volumetrically added back into culture with P.B3019 NS3358–375 stimulated PBMCs. Data is representative of percent response to NS3358–375 stimulated PBMCs depleted with indicated tetramer(s) (WT alone) and set to 100%. Controls were CLIP (light gray) and NS3358–375 (dark gray). (b) PB3019 PBMC cultures were stimulated with indicated peptide(s) with each tetramer added at 10 μg/ml and incubated for 7 days.
