The flavonoid ellagic acid from a medicinal herb inhibits host immune tolerance induced by the hepatitis B virus-e antigen.

The aim of this study is to characterize the role of ellagic acid, a flavonoid from a medicinal herb which blocks HBeAg secretion in a HBV infected cell line and in HBeAg transgenic mice, in immune tolerance in chronic HBV infection. Using the mouse strain C57ML/6, HBeAg-producing transgenic mice (HBeAg-Tg), under the control of metal ion-inducible promoter were generated. The effect on immune tolerance of HBeAg-Tg and the release of immune tolerance by the inhibitor of HBeAg secretion, ellagic acid, was tested using T/B cell proliferation, HBeAg/HBeAb production, cytotoxic T-lymphocyte (CTL) and cytokine assays. C57ML/6 based HBeAg-producing HBeAg-Tg mice were tolerant to HBeAg at the T and B-cell level, did not produce antibodies to HBeAg in vivo and in vitro, produced minimal levels of cytokines (IL-4 and IFN-gamma) and decreased CTL responses, while feeding mice with ellagic acid (5mg/kg body weight) blocked the immune tolerance caused by HBeAg. Our results suggest that host immune tolerance induced by HBeAg during HBV infection, a viral strategy to guarantee HBV infection, can be overcome by ellagic acid, thus it can be used as a therapeutic for HBV-carriers.