%0 Journal Article %T Hepatitis C Virus Induces Regulatory T Cells by Naturally Occurring Viral Variants to Suppress T Cell Responses %A Matthew F. Cusick %A Jennifer J. Schiller %A Joan C. Gill %A David D. Eckels %J Clinical and Developmental Immunology %D 2011 %I Hindawi Publishing Corporation %R 10.1155/2011/806061 %X Regulatory T cell markers are increased in chronically infected individuals with the hepatitis C virus (HCV), but to date, the induction and maintenance of Tregs in HCV infection has not been clearly defined. In this paper, we demonstrate that naturally occurring viral variants suppress T cell responses to cognate NS3358-375 in an antigen-specific manner. Of four archetypal variants, S370P induced regulatory T cell markers in comparison to NS3358-375-stimulated CD4 T cells. Further, the addition of variant-specific CD4 T cells back into a polyclonal culture in a dose-dependent manner inhibited the T cell response. These results suggest that HCV is able to induce antigen-specific regulatory T cells to suppress the antiviral T cell response in an antigen-specific manner, thus contributing to a niche within the host that could be conducive to HCV persistence. %U http://www.hindawi.com/journals/cdi/2011/806061/