Flow cytometry tests are commercially available that will differentiate and determine your NK, B, and T cell levels in peripheral blood.
The t cells will be further differentiated in cd4, and cd8 cells.
But these numbers of total cell type populations are not meaningful to determine if an HBV specific t cell restoration has taken place.
There are further available flow cytometry testings for T cells which carry the actuall T cell receptor for the main known HBV epitope class I cd8 Tcells, at least for the surface antigen and the core. They are done using tetramers or pentamers of soluble MHC complexes loaded with the respective epitope peptide and a fluorescent dye.
Cd4 cell testing is still in the beginning.
But these hbv specific tcell tests are, to my knowledge only done in research settings, not available to a patient.
Furthermore the determination of these t cells in the peripheral blood might not be a good indicator of their quantitative presence in the liver tissue, where they belong, so the results are hard to interpret.
Also, these tetramer tests only determine the presence of the cognate t cell receptor, but do not inform about the functional capacity and characteristics of the detected hbv specific t cells.
Micro rna discovered by dr brunetto in pisa but this is a research test nlt available to public yet
Thanks stef2011 and study for hope helpful informative answers
So even for example understanding prelonged immune responses can cause
t cell exhaustion and scarring of the liver. So in the short term allowing the liver to rest and t cell fully resotore.
So please forgive for sounding naive but how are these made measurable with the above tests mentioned? And what are the desired parameters?
Thanks
As I mentioned, you can determine the frequency of hbv epitope specific t cells in the blood, but not their functional capacity and not how many are in the liver.
so there is no direct testing for T cell Restauration available.
The research papers in this context are actually basing their conclusions also mainly on hbv specific t cell frequency increases in the peripheral blood. The general assumption is that this reflects the situation in the liver as well. Some analyze t cells from liver biopsies directly.
In the research setting these t cells can also be stimulated and their capacity to replicate and produce gamma interferon can be tested. But is is not available to patients or doctors.
Sorry didnt read it correctly first time. Thankyou for the answers appreciated