The flavonoid ellagic acid from a medicinal herb inhibits host immune tolerance induced by the hepatitis B virus-e antigen

Cited 65 time in scopus
Metadata Downloads
Title
The flavonoid ellagic acid from a medicinal herb inhibits host immune tolerance induced by the hepatitis B virus-e antigen
Author(s)
E H Kang; T Y Kown; G T Oh; W F Park; S I Park; S K Park; Young Ik Lee
Bibliographic Citation
Antiviral Research, vol. 72, no. 2, pp. 100-106
Publication Year
2006
Abstract
The aim of this study is to characterize the role of ellagic acid, a flavonoid from a medicinal herb which blocks HBeAg secretion in a HBV infected cell line and in HBeAg transgenic mice, in immune tolerance in chronic HBV infection. Using the mouse strain C57ML/6, HBeAg-producing transgenic mice (HBeAg-Tg), under the control of metal ion-inducible promoter were generated. The effect on immune tolerance of HBeAg-Tg and the release of immune tolerance by the inhibitor of HBeAg secretion, ellagic acid, was tested using T/B cell proliferation, HBeAg/HBeAb production, cytotoxic T-lymphocyte (CTL) and cytokine assays. C57ML/6 based HBeAg-producing HBeAg-Tg mice were tolerant to HBeAg at the T and B-cell level, did not produce antibodies to HBeAg in vivo and in vitro, produced minimal levels of cytokines (IL-4 and IFN-gamma) and decreased CTL responses, while feeding mice with ellagic acid (5 mg/kg body weight) blocked the immune tolerance caused by HBeAg. Our results suggest that host immune tolerance induced by HBeAg during HBV infection, a viral strategy to guarantee HBV infection, can be overcome by ellagic acid, thus it can be used as a therapeutic for HBV-carriers.
Keyword
anti-HBV infectionellagic acidhepatitis B virus-e antigenimmune tolerance
ISSN
0166-3542
Publisher
Elsevier
DOI
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.antiviral.2006.04.006
Type
Article
Appears in Collections:
1. Journal Articles > Journal Articles
Files in This Item:
  • There are no files associated with this item.


Items in OpenAccess@KRIBB are protected by copyright, with all rights reserved, unless otherwise indicated.