Danijela Petrovic, Zania Stamataki, Eugene Dempsey, Lucy Golden‐Mason, Michael Freeley, Derek Doherty, David Prichard, Catherine Keogh, Jennifer Conroy, Siobhan Mitchell, Yuri Volkov, Jane A. McKeating, Cliona O'Farrelly, Dermot Kelleher, Aideen Long – 30 March 2011 – T cell activation and the resultant production of interleukin (IL‐2) is a central response of the adaptive immune system to pathogens, such as hepatitis C virus (HCV). HCV uses several mechanisms to evade both the innate and adaptive arms of the immune response.