B cell activation gene signature in blood and liver of HBeAg+ immune active chronic hepatitis B patients.

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND: Immunological studies on chronic hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection have convincingly shown immune dysfunction involving multiple cell types. The focus of the majority of studies has been on the role of T cells and showed an impaired functional T cell response to HBV. B cells have been evaluated more recently, but in contrast to T cells, more pronounced activation of circulating B cells has been reported. To gain more insight into the activation status of B cells, we investigated the activation gene profile of B cells in the blood and liver of chronic HBV patients. METHODS: RNA-seq and flow cytometric analysis was performed on peripheral blood B cells of immune active chronic HBV patients, comparing them with samples from healthy controls. In addition, gene expression profiles of B cells in the liver were analyzed by bulk and single-cell RNA-seq. RESULTS AND CONCLUSIONS: Our data show a distinctive B cell activation gene signature in the blood of immune active chronic HBV patients, characterized by a significant upregulation of immune-related genes, including IRF1, STAT1, STAT3, TAP1, and TAPBP. This peripheral activation profile was also observed in B cells from the liver by single cell RNA-seq showing upregulation of IRF1, CD83 and significantly higher CD69 expression, with naive and memory B cell subsets being the primary carriers of the signature. Our findings suggest that B cell gene profiles reflect responsiveness to HBV infection, these findings are relevant for clinical studies evaluating immunomodulatory treatment strategies for HBV.