Identification of T cell epitopes on soluble liver antigen in Chinese patients with auto-immune hepatitis

Aim: To identify soluble liver antigen (SLA)‐specific dominant epitopes and analyse the correlation between SLA‐specific T cell response and the status of the disease. Methods: A cross‐sectional analysis of SLA‐specific T cell responses to 54 overlapping peptides covering the entire SLA sequence was performed using an interferon (IFN)‐γ ELISpot assay in 31 patients with auto‐immune hepatitis (AIH)‐1, 15 patients with primary biliary cirrhosis, 16 hepatitis B virus, seven hepatitis C virus infection and 10 healthy subjects, in order to assess the correlation between SLA‐specific T cell responses and the clinical outcome. Results: Soluble liver antigen‐specific IFN‐γ responses in AIH were significantly more frequent in AIH patients (58.1%) than those in controls (6.7% in PBC, P=0.001; 4.3% in hepatitis B/C, P