Routine evaluation of HBV-specific T cell reactivity in chronic hepatitis B using a broad-spectrum T-cell epitope peptide library and ELISpot assay.

The presented method could be developed into an efficient reference method for the clinical evaluation of cellular immunity. The CHB patients presenting low reactivity of HBV-specific T cells have a worse prognosis for hepatitis progression and should be treated using pegIFN-α to improve host T-cell immunity.