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The aim of this study is to clarify the differences of host immune responses between acute self-limited and chronic persistent hepatitis B virus (HBV) infections by quantitative and qualitative analysis of HLA-A*2402-restricted HBV-specific CD8⁺ T cells.

HBV-specific CD8⁺ T cells in peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) from patients infected with HBV were analyzed by flow cytometry using two HLA-A*2402–HBV peptide tetrameric complexes.

High numbers of HBV-specific CD8⁺ T cells were detected in acute phase PBMCs from most individuals with acute HBV infection while the number of these cells was greatly reduced in recovery phase PBMCs. HBV-specific CD8⁺ T cells were not detected in PBMCs from individuals with chronic HBV infection except for one patient during acute exacerbation. HBV-specific CD8⁺ T cells were induced by in vitro peptide stimulation in …