Hepatitis C viral variants bear signatures of de novo CD8+ T cell and antibody pressure after spontaneous postpartum viral suppression.

In nine postpartum HCV controllers, viral control at 12–24 months is strongly associated with amino acid mutations in CD8+ T cell and neutralizing antibody–predicted epitopes.

• Why it matters: Chronic HCV usually persists lifelong, but some women show postpartum viral load declines or even clearance, suggesting immune pressure may reshape viral variants.
• What they did: Serial near-full-length deep sequencing of HCV genomes was performed in nine controllers (≥ 1 log 10 decline at 3 mo postpartum) and 12 noncontrollers, alongside plasma neutralization testing.
• The result: At 12–24 months, control correlates with epitope mutations and controllers show a postpartum increase in neutralization of multiple HCV strains, supporting CD8+ T cell and antibody pressure.