005) (data not shown). Representative FACS contour plots are

shown (Fig. 4B). Subsequently, we tested the effect of CD244 blockade on IFN-γ production in peripheral blood CD8+ T-cells of chronically infected HBV patients (n = 15) using Elispot assay. The inhibition of CD244 or CD48 significantly enhanced virus-specific IFN-γ production (P = 0.04 and P = 0.01, respectively) (Fig. 5A). Increased IFN-γ production by CD244 or CD48 blockade was restricted to CD244highCD8+ T-cells (P = 0.02) (Fig. 5B). Unspecific IFN-γ secretion was defined by stimulation of PBMCs: (1) from healthy donors with HBV core peptide in the presence of blocking antibodies (n = 11); and (2) from chronically infected patients Akt inhibitor with isotype control (n = 11). Samples of healthy controls (data not shown) and samples

stimulated with isotype selleck compound control (P = 0.1) did not show unspecific IFN-γ secretion (Fig. 5C). We next evaluated the effect of CD244 blockade on the restoration of IFN-γ, TNF-α, and IL-2 production and cytotoxicity in chronic HBV (n = 5), HBV resolvers (n = 3), acutely infected patients (n = 3), and healthy controls (n = 5). The effects on cytokine and CD107a production in chronically infected patients are shown (Fig. 6A). CD244 blockade did especially augment CD107a (3%), which rises 5.2-fold in four of five patients in comparison to antigen stimulation (0.58%) (P = 0.1) (Fig. 6B). CD244 blockade further enhanced virus-specific TNF-α production two-fold in five of five patients from 0.73% to 1.49% (P = 0.06) (Fig. 6C). The effect on IFN-γ release was modest (1.39-fold); however, there was a trend toward higher expression find more in five of five patients (P = 0.06) (Fig. 6A). CD244 blockade increased virus-specific IL-2 production in three of five patients from 0.01% to 0.055% (P = 0.3) (Fig. 6A). Because such low levels of IL-2 production were close to the detection limit of intracellular cytokine staining (ICS), IL-2

was excluded for further analysis. CD244 inhibition also induced effects on multifunctionality, as we detected a two-fold enhancement of IFN-γ+TNF-α+CD8+ T-cells from 0.63% to 1.26% in five of five patients (P = 0.06) (Fig. 6D) and a 1.86-fold increase of CD107a+TNF-α+CD8+ T-cells from 0.7% to 1.3% in five of five patients (P = 0.06) (Fig. 6E). There was a modest 1.4-fold increase of CD107a/IFN-γ expressing virus-specific CD8+ T-cells in four of five patients from 1.65% to 2.3% (P = 0.12) (Fig. 6F), and a 1.88-fold increase of CD107a+IFN-γ+TNF-α+ expression from 0.6% to 1.14% in four of five patients (P = 0.12) (Fig. 6F). No increase in cytokine production and CD107a expression was detectable in acute patients and resolvers stimulated with the HBV core peptide as well as healthy individuals stimulated with the EBV peptide, as shown (Supporting Fig. 2). No reaction was measurable in healthy controls stimulated with the HBV core peptide (data not shown).