Relationship between Kupffer cells and the liver injury induced by chronic HBV infection

The infection of hepatitis B virus (HBV) is the most common cause of many kinds of chronic liver diseases such as liver cirrhosis and liver cancer. Kupffer cells are the first cells to be exposed to the materials absorbed from gastrointestinal tract, and play a key role in innate immune responses and host defence. Activated Kupffer cells can express TLRs, FasL, PD-L1 and secret lots of inflammatory mediators, reactive oxygen species, nitric oxide (NO) and so on, which can take effect on HBV-infected hepatocytes, and play critical roles in the progress of immunotolerance of chronic HBV infection and subsequent liver injury.