New window into hepatitis B in Africa: Liver sampling combined with single cell omics enables deep and longitudinal assessment of intrahepatic immunity in Zambia

Taonga Musonda; Michael S Wallace; Hailey Patel; Owen P Martin; Christopher Oetheimer; Simutanyi Mwakamui; Edford Sinkala; Bright Nsokolo; Annie Kanunga; Georg Lauer; Raymond T Chung; Gilles Wandeler; Debika Bhattacharya; Paul Kelly; Nadia Alatrakchi; Michael J Vinikoor

doi:10.1093/infdis/jiae054

New window into hepatitis B in Africa: Liver sampling combined with single cell omics enables deep and longitudinal assessment of intrahepatic immunity in Zambia

J Infect Dis. 2024 Feb 9:jiae054. doi: 10.1093/infdis/jiae054. Online ahead of print.

Authors

Taonga Musonda¹, Michael S Wallace², Hailey Patel², Owen P Martin², Christopher Oetheimer², Simutanyi Mwakamui¹, Edford Sinkala^{1

3}, Bright Nsokolo⁴, Annie Kanunga^{1

5}, Georg Lauer², Raymond T Chung², Gilles Wandeler^{6

7}, Debika Bhattacharya⁸, Paul Kelly^{1

9}, Nadia Alatrakchi², Michael J Vinikoor^{3

5

10}

Affiliations

¹ Tropical Gastroenterology & Nutrition Group, University of Zambia, Lusaka, Zambia.
² Division of Gastroenterology, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts, USA.
³ Department of Medicine, University Teaching Hospital, Lusaka, Zambia.
⁴ Department of Medicine, Levy Mwanawasa University Teaching Hospital, Lusaka, Zambia.
⁵ Centre for Infectious Disease Research in Zambia, Lusaka, Zambia.
⁶ Department of Infectious Diseases, Bern University Hospital, University of Bern, Bern, Switzerland.
⁷ Institute of Social and Preventive Medicine, University of Bern, Bern, Switzerland.
⁸ Division of Infectious Diseases, University of California at Los Angeles, Los Angeles, California, USA.
⁹ Queen Mary University of London, London, UK.
¹⁰ Division of Infectious Diseases, University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham, Alabama, USA.

PMID: 38332750
DOI: 10.1093/infdis/jiae054

Abstract

In Lusaka, Zambia, we introduced liver fine needle aspiration (FNA) into a research cohort of adults with treatment-naïve chronic hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection, with and without HIV coinfection, as well as with acute HBV infection. Over 117 enrollment and 47 longitudinal FNAs (at 1 year follow-up), we established participant acceptability and safety. We also demonstrated the quality of the material through single cell RNA sequencing of selected enrollment FNAs, which revealed a range of immune cells. This approach can drive new insights into HBV immunology, informing cure strategies, and can improve our understanding of HBV natural history in Africa.

Keywords: Africa; Hepatitis B virus; human immunodeficiency virus; liver fine needle aspiration; single cell RNA sequencing.

Abstract

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