{
  "abstract": "Progression to chronic hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection entails loss of HCV-specific CD4+ T cell help, emergence of viral variants that escape recognition by CD8+ T cells and neutralizing antibodies, and exhaustion of CD8+ T cells targeting remaining intact epitopes. Once chronic infection has been established, it is generally lifelong without treatment. However, in some chronically infected women, a surprising postpartum viral load decline has been linked to resurgent functional HCV-specific CD4+ helper T cells. A minority of women even spontaneously clear long-standing chronic infection postpartum. To test whether restored T cell help boosts HCV-specific CD8+ T cell or antibody responses in women with postpartum viral control, we performed serial near-full-length deep sequencing of HCV genomes to assess evolution of viral MHC class I epitopes and antibody epitopes in nine women with significant postpartum viral declines (≥ 1 log10 at 3 mo postpartum, “controllers”) and 12 with more stable levels (“noncontrollers”). Although not associated with mutations arising early postpartum, at 12 to 24 mo postpartum, viral control was strongly associated with amino acid mutations in epitopes predicted to be targeted by CD8+ T cells and neutralizing antibodies. Plasma from controllers also demonstrated a postpartum increase in neutralization of multiple HCV strains. Together, these findings support the hypothesis that postpartum viral control is mediated by CD8+ T cell and antibody pressure.",
  "abstract_shown": true,
  "affiliations": [
    "Center for Microbe and Immunity Research, The Abigail Wexner Research Institute at Nationwide Children’s Hospital, Columbus, OH 43205",
    "Division of Pediatric Infectious Diseases, Nationwide Children’s Hospital, Columbus, OH 43205",
    "Department of Pediatrics, College of Medicine, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH 43210",
    "Division of Microbiology and Immunology, Emory National Primate Research Center, Emory Vaccine Center, Atlanta, GA 30307",
    "Laboratory of Infectious Diseases, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD 20892",
    "Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, College of Medicine, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH 43210",
    "Department of Internal Medicine, College of Medicine, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH 43210",
    "Division of Infectious Diseases, Department of Medicine, Emory University School of Medicine, Atlanta, GA 30307"
  ],
  "article_type": "research article",
  "arxiv": null,
  "author_total": 11,
  "authors": [
    {
      "affs": [
        0
      ],
      "name": "Christopher C. Phelps",
      "orcid": "0000-0003-4545-5650"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        1,
        2
      ],
      "name": "Stephanie Smith",
      "orcid": "0000-0001-6494-886X"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        3
      ],
      "name": "John Gridley",
      "orcid": "0009-0000-2800-5290"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        0
      ],
      "name": "Jennifer A. Kohout"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        0
      ],
      "name": "Zhaohui Xu"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        4
      ],
      "name": "Joseph Marcotrigiano",
      "orcid": "0000-0001-7670-7836"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        5
      ],
      "name": "Kara Rood"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        0,
        6
      ],
      "name": "Nicole E. Skinner"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        3,
        7
      ],
      "name": "Arash Grakoui",
      "orcid": "0000-0002-6002-7518"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        0,
        1,
        2
      ],
      "name": "Jonathan R. Honegger",
      "orcid": "0000-0002-3181-0554"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        0,
        2
      ],
      "name": "Christopher M. Walker",
      "orcid": "0000-0001-6456-5834"
    }
  ],
  "bibtex": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/7xg8mvw2x4vzn.bib",
  "cited_by": 0,
  "doi": "10.1073/pnas.2610110123",
  "fulltext_url": "https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC13732198/",
  "id": "7xg8mvw2x4vzn",
  "issns": [
    "0027-8424",
    "1091-6490"
  ],
  "landing_url": "https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2610110123",
  "language": "en",
  "licence": "CC-BY-NC-ND-4.0",
  "licence_label": "CC BY-NC-ND 4.0",
  "licence_source": "article",
  "licence_url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/",
  "metadata_licence": null,
  "native_subjects": [
    [
      "heading",
      "420"
    ],
    [
      "heading",
      "Biological Sciences"
    ],
    [
      "heading",
      "Immunology and Inflammation"
    ],
    [
      "openalex",
      "2721|Hepatitis C virus research"
    ]
  ],
  "openalex": "W7223811521",
  "pdf_url": "https://www.pnas.org/doi/pdf/10.1073/pnas.2610110123",
  "pmcid": "PMC13732198",
  "pmid": "42945244",
  "published": "2026-10-27",
  "publisher": "National Academy of Sciences",
  "ris": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/7xg8mvw2x4vzn.ris",
  "sources": [
    {
      "first_seen": "2026-11-08T12:22:13Z",
      "native_id": "PMC13732198",
      "source": "pmc",
      "url": "https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2610110123"
    }
  ],
  "subjects": [
    {
      "field": "biochemistry",
      "origin": "journal-openalex:1312|Genomics and Chromatin Dynamics",
      "subfield": "molecular-biology"
    }
  ],
  "title": "Hepatitis C viral variants bear signatures of de novo CD8+ T cell and antibody pressure after spontaneous postpartum viral suppression",
  "title_text": "Hepatitis C viral variants bear signatures of de novo CD8+ T cell and antibody pressure after spontaneous postpartum viral suppression",
  "type": "peer-reviewed",
  "updated_at": "2026-11-08T12:22:13Z",
  "url": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/7xg8mvw2x4vzn",
  "venue": "Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America",
  "versions": []
}