Premium
T‐cell antigenic determinants within hepatitis C virus nonstructural protein 3 and cytokine production profiles in hepatitis C
Author(s) -
Pan C.H.,
Yang P.M.,
Hwang L.H.,
Kao ShingF.,
Chen P.J.,
Chiang B.L.,
Chen D.S.
Publication year - 2002
Publication title -
journal of viral hepatitis
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.329
H-Index - 100
eISSN - 1365-2893
pISSN - 1352-0504
DOI - 10.1046/j.1365-2893.2002.00363.x
Subject(s) - peripheral blood mononuclear cell , antigen , hepatitis c virus , ns3 , immunology , cytokine , virology , t cell , medicine , biology , virus , immune system , in vitro , biochemistry
summary . The aim of this study was to further investigate the role of T‐helper cells in hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection, focusing on the T‐cell antigenic determinants and cytokine profiles of nonstructural 3 (NS3) protein‐stimulated peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) of HCV patients. A total of 12 recombinant proteins of theNS3 region were purified and used to test T‐cell proliferative response and antigenic determinants of HCV‐seropositive patients. In addition, cytokines produced by antigen stimulated PBMCs were measured. Our data showed that PBMCs from 55.7% (34/61) of HCV patients proliferated to at least one antigen, but PBMCs of HCV seronegative patients did not. In addition, PBMCs from about 82.0% (32/39) HCV‐seropositive patients produced significant amounts of cytokines (10 pg/mL). Interestingly, PBMCs from 66% of patients produced TH 2 ‐related cytokines such as interleukin (IL)‐4 and IL‐5. In mappingexperiments, the data showed multiple T‐cell antigenic determinants. Our data demonstrated that NS3 antigen‐stimulated PBMCs of HCV patients recognized multiple T‐cell antigenic determinants and produced significant amounts of TH 0 or TH 2 ‐related cytokines, which might play a critical role in the chronicity of HCV infection.