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Hepatitis C virus‐specific cellular immune responses in sustained virological responders with viral persistence in peripheral blood mononuclear cells
Author(s) -
RoqueCuéllar María C.,
Sánchez Berta,
GarcíaLozano José R.,
PraenaFernández Juan M.,
MárquezGalán José L.,
NúñezRoldán Antonio,
AguilarReina José
Publication year - 2014
Publication title -
liver international
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.873
H-Index - 110
eISSN - 1478-3231
pISSN - 1478-3223
DOI - 10.1111/liv.12320
Subject(s) - peripheral blood mononuclear cell , immune system , hepatitis c virus , immunology , flow cytometry , virology , medicine , interferon , hepatitis c , virus , biology , in vitro , biochemistry
Background & Aims Hepatitis C virus ( HCV )‐ RNA detection in peripheral blood mononuclear cells ( PBMC s) after recovery from HCV infection, is a type of occult HCV infection although is unclear how the viral persistence in PBMC s affects HCV ‐specific T‐cell responses. The aim of this study was to investigate if cellular immune responses are modified by HCV persistence in PBMC s. Methods HCV ‐specific CD 4 + and CD 8 + T‐cell responses against six HCV peptides, situated within the non‐structural ( NS ) proteins NS 3, NS 4b and NS 5b, were measured by flow cytometry‐through intracellular detection of gamma interferon ( IFN ‐γ) or interleukin 4 ( IL ‐4) and CD 69 expression‐ in 27 sustained virological responders ( SVR ): 13 with and 14 without occult HCV infection in PBMC s, detected by strand‐specific real‐time PCR . Ten healthy individuals and 14 chronically infected patients with viraemia, were included as controls. Results SVR without occult infection showed a higher percentage of activated CD 4 + cells against peptides belonging to NS 3 (p124, p153) and NS 5b (p257, p294), activated CD 8 + cells against NS 3 (p124, p153, p158) and NS 5b‐p294, as well as an elevated percentage of CD 4 + cells releasing IFN ‐γ + IL ‐4 against NS 3‐p153, and by CD 8 + cells against NS 3 (p124, p153). SVR without occult infection showed a higher percentage of activation and release of IFN ‐γ + IL ‐4 by both cell subpopulations than the two group of controls, in contrast to SVR with occult infection. Conclusion The lower HCV ‐specific T‐cell response found in SVR with occult infection indicates that the immune response may be impaired when the virus persists in PBMC s.