ProImmune Asia: Viral Hepatitis Conference

Join us for an online lunchtime conference focused on viral hepatitis

Hear experts in the field discuss their latest approaches and research results including with the use of technologies from ProImmune

Wednesday 3 February, 2021

11:30am SGT (GMT+8)

Register now for free

Viral hepatitis results in around 1.4 million deaths each year. HBV and HCV are responsible for about 90% of these fatalities, whilst the remaining 10% of fatalities are caused by other hepatitis viruses. The progression of research to understand viral hepatitis is an important part of modern healthcare. We are proud to be hosting this meeting and have invited experts to share their cutting edge research work on viral hepatitis.

As targeted immune therapies grow in complexity, understanding and characterizing immune responses has never been more important. Join us at our first ever ProImmune Asia Webinar Session focusing on viral hepatitis for this session to learn the latest developments in this evolving field. This meeting is a forum to share knowledge, perspectives and discuss solutions to the complex challenges of immunity.

Learn from academic experts as they highlight their discoveries in the context of monitoring immune responses. Share information with like-minded scientists from other organizations and explore new opportunities for collaboration. Discover fresh perspectives and novel ideas to combat the challenges in the rapidly changing field of immunology. Connect with people around the world with similar research interest for potential project collaboration.

Schedule

SGT (GMT+8)	Speaker	Title & Abstract
11:30am		WELCOME
11:40am	Prof. Eui-Cheol Shin Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST), South Korea	Functions of Human Liver CD69+CD103-CD8+ T cells Depend on HIF-2a Activity in Healthy and Pathologic Livers In viral hepatitis, activation of bystander CD8+ T cells has been reported, but their roles have not been elucidated. Recently, we reported that bystander CD8+ T cells contribute to the liver injury in acute hepatitis A virus (HAV) infection (Immunity 2018, 48:161). In patients with acute HAV infection, CD8+ T cells specific to unrelated viruses, including CMV, EBV, and influenza virus, become activated by IL-15. Activated bystander CD8+ T cells exert innate-like cytotoxicity triggered by activating receptors NKG2D and NKp30 without TCR engagement. Importantly, the severity of liver injury is associated with activation and innate-like cytotoxicity of HAV-unrelated virus-specific CD8+ T cells, but not the activation of HAV-specific T cells, indicating that bystander-activated CD8+ T cells are implicated in host injury during acute viral hepatitis. More recently, we also examined tissue-resident memory (Trm) phenotypes of hepatitis virus-specific and non-hepatotropic virus-specific CD8+ T cells among liver sinusoidal mononuclear cells (J Hepatol 2020, 72:1170). There are two different Trm-like CD8+ T cell populations, CD69+CD103+ and CD69+CD103-. Interestingly, CD69+CD103+CD8+ T cells include only hepatitis virus-specific cells whereas CD69+CD103-CD8+ T cells include both hepatitis virus-specific and non-hepatotropic virus-specific cells, indicating that tissue-tropism of viruses is associated with tissue-resident features of CD8+ T cells in the liver.
12:05pm	Edmund Neo ProImmune, Singapore	Epitope identification and clinical immune monitoring tools Epitope discovery and immune monitoring is a crucial element in the development of vaccine candidates and drug therapeutics. ProImmune provides industry-leading tools for antigen characterization, epitope mapping and immune monitoring. Once the epitopes have been identified, they act as important markers for tracking treatment effectiveness in clinical immune monitoring programs. Antigen-specific CD8+ T and CD4+ T cell responses can be enumerated by our Pro5^® MHC Pentamers and ProT2^® MHC Tetramers respectively. Additionally, the ProImmune REVEAL^® MHC-peptide binding assay eliminates the need for precious patient samples and allows for the screening of multiple proteins for potential T cell epitopes in a matter of weeks. I will be sharing case studies demonstrating the success of the HCV Vaccine Trials at the University of Oxford that have deployed our Pro5^® MHC Pentamers and ProT2^® MHC Tetramers and how ProImmune’s integrated platform has identified novel epitopes that has enabled the detection and measurement of specific functional T cell responses in the clinic.
12:30pm	Prof. Antonio Bertoletti Duke NUS, Singapore	Engineering T lymphocytes for chronic HBV infection immunotherapy Immunotherapy based on adoptive transfer of T cells engineered to express HLA class I restricted T-cell receptor (TCR) or a chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) targeting tumor antigens has generated impressive results in treating some cancers. T cells are, however, also essential for the control of viral infections, particularly in persistent viral infections like HBV that is characterized by defect of antigen specific T cells. We have built a library of virus-specific TCRs (mainly HBV-specific) that we use both in vitro and in vivo to engineer lymphocytes able to target both HBV infected hepatocytes and HBV-related liver tumor. However, while anti-cancer therapy seeks an efficient killing of cancer cells, antiviral therapy should maximize the suppression of viral replication with limited organ damage, particularly in viral infection targeting organs that are indispensable for life (as the liver). I will discuss the strategies, such as time controlled TCR expression or modification of T cell function through the use on antisense nucleotides targeting T effector proteins, that are utilized in our laboratory to engineer antiviral lymphocytes with limited lysis ability for chronic viral infection treatment.
12:55pm		CLOSING

Speakers from previous ProImmune Meetings

Presentations from our meetings are available online free of charge.

Dr. Inderpal Singh, TEVA Pharmaceuticals	Dr. Yeojun Yun, Synteka Bio	Prof. Antonio Bertoletti, Duke NUS	Prof. Tao Dong, University of Oxford
Prof. Arlene Sharpe, Harvard University	Dr. Lea Bartsch, Massachusetts General Hospital	Dr. Zuben Sauna, FDA	Dr. Priya Sriraman, Celgene
Dr. Vibha Jawa, Merck	Dr. Rodd Polsky, GSK	Dr. David Wraith, Apitope	Dr. Aaron Mansfield, Mayo Clinic
Dr. Tim Hickling, Roche	Prof. Beatriz Carreno, University of Pennsylvania	Dr. Jochem Gokemeijer, Bristol-Myers Squibb	Dr. Sophie Tourdot, Pfizer

How will I benefit?

Be informed of the latest
development in viral hepatitis research
Talks given by key researchers in the field
Learn about the latest technology in the field
Develop connection with people all around the world

Conference Enquiries:

Email: enquiries@proimmune.com

Asia-Pacific, Australia & New Zealand Region: +65 8338 1853

Telephone (toll free): USA & Canada +1 888 505 7765

All Other Countries: +44 870 042 7279