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. 2016 Oct 28;8(30):1287-1294.
doi: 10.4254/wjh.v8.i30.1287.

Regulatory and activated effector T cells in chronic hepatitis C virus: Relation to autoimmunity

Hanan Fouad  1 , Maissa El Raziky  1 , Eman Medhat Hassan  1 , Ghada Mahmoud Abdel Aziz  1 , Samar K Darweesh  1 , Ahmed Reda Sayed  1
Affiliations

Regulatory and activated effector T cells in chronic hepatitis C virus: Relation to autoimmunity

Hanan Fouad et al. World J Hepatol. .

Abstract

Aim: To investigate how Tregs are regulated in chronic hepatitis C virus (HCV) patients via assessment of Tregs markers (granzyme 2, CD69 and FoxP3), Teffs markers [TNFRSF4 (OX40), INFG] and CD4, CD25 genes.

Methods: A prospective study was conducted on 120 subjects divided into 4 groups: Group I (n = 30) treatment naïve chronic HCV patients; Group II (n = 30) chronic HCV treated with Peg/Riba; Group III (n = 30) chronic HCV associated with non-organ specific autoantibody and Group IV (n = 30) healthy persons as a control group. Tregs and Teffs markers were assessed in peripheral blood mononuclear cells by quantitative real time reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction.

Results: Chronic HCV patients exhibited significant higher levels of both Teffs and Tregs in comparison to healthy control group. Tregs markers were significantly decreased in Peg/Riba treated HCV patients in comparison to treatment naïve HCV group. In HCV patients with antinuclear antibody (ANA) +ve, Tregs markers were significantly decreased in comparison to all other studied groups. Teffs markers were significantly elevated in all HCV groups in comparison to control and in HCV group with ANA +ve in comparison to treatment naïve HCV group.

Conclusion: Elevated Tregs cells in chronic HCV patients dampen both CD4+ and CD8+ autologous T cell immune response. Interferon-α and ribavirin therapy suppress proliferation of Tregs. More significant suppression of Tregs was observed in HCV patients with autoantibodies favoring pathological autoimmune response.

Keywords: Autoimmunity; Hepatitis C virus; Interferon; T activator cells; T regulatory cells.

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Conflict of interest statement

Conflict-of-interest statement: There are no conflicts of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Relative gene expression of Tregs specific genes in the studied groups. aSignificant difference vs control group; bSignificant difference vs treatment naïve HCV group; cSignificant difference vs HCV group after treatment. HCV: Hepatitis C virus; IFN: Interferon.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Relative gene expression of Teffs specific genes and CD4, CD25 in the studied groups. aSignificant difference vs control group; bSignificant difference vs treatment naïve HCV group. HCV: Hepatitis C virus.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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