Immune-Regulatory Events in the Clearance of HBsAg in Chronic Hepatitis B: Focuses on HLA-DP

Abstract

Successful clearance of hepatitis B virus (HBV) is a promising event in which host's immune system will attempt to get rid of the virus. The immunological events of HBsAg seroclearance have attracted great attention in both natural history investigations and therapeutic trials. Recent genome-wide association studies (GWAS) has confirmed polymorphisms in the human leukocyte antigen (HLA)-DP locus associated with spontaneous HBV clearance. In this review the impact of host immune response in declining HBsAg during the natural history of the infection has been discussed.