Dendritic cell‐based immunotherapy: A potential therapeutic option for chronic Hepatitis B virus infection

Abstract

Dendritic cells (DCs) play a crucial role in initiating the adaptive immune response that could determine the outcome of Hepatitis B virus infection. The efficacy of DC-based immunotherapy may be improved via several strategies including treatment of interleukin-12, pDC-derived interferon (IFN)-α, monophosphoryl lipid A and IFN-γ, uric acid as well as blockade of B7 homolog 1. Besides, DCs with an engineered expression of HBV S-ecdCD40L, or pulsed with M1:HBcAg conjugates or transfection of recombinant plasmid pEGFP-N1-C (472-507)-ecdCD40L also showed improved efficacy.