Immunological dynamics associated with rapid virological response during the early phase of type I interferon therapy in patients with chronic hepatitis C.

Autor: Jae-Won Lee, Won Kim, Eun-Kyung Kwon, Yuri Kim, Hyun Mu Shin, Dong-Hyun Kim, Chan-Ki Min, Ji-Yeob Choi, Won-Woo Lee, Myung-Sik Choi, Byeong Gwan Kim, Nam-Hyuk Cho
Jazyk: angličtina
Rok vydání: 2017
Předmět:
Zdroj: PLoS ONE, Vol 12, Iss 6, p e0179094 (2017)
Druh dokumentu: article
ISSN: 1932-6203
DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0179094
Popis: Type I interferons (IFNs) play an important role in antiviral immunity as well as immunopathogenesis of diverse chronic viral infections. However, the precise mechanisms regulating the multifaceted effects of type I IFNs on the immune system and pathological inflammation still remain unclear. In order to assess the immunological dynamics associated with rapid viral clearance in chronic hepatitis C patients during the acute phase of type I IFN therapy, we analyzed multiple parameters of virological and immunological responses in a cohort of 59 Korean hepatitis C patients who received pegylated IFN-α and ribavirin (IFN/RBV). Most of the Korean patients had favorable alleles in the IFN-λ loci for responsiveness to IFN/RBV (i.e., C/C in rs12979860, T/T in rs8099917, and TT/TT in rs368234815). Rapid virological response (RVR) was determined mainly by the hepatitis C virus genotype. Among the cytokines analyzed, higher plasma levels of IL-17A and FGF were observed in non-RVR patients infected with viral genotype 1 and IP-10 was consistently elevated in RVR group infected with genotype 2 during the early phase of antiviral therapy. In addition, these three cytokines were correlated each other, suggesting a functional linkage of the cytokines in antiviral responses during IFN/RBV therapy. A low baseline frequencies of regulatory T cells and γδ T cells, but high level of group 2 innate lymphoid cells, in peripheral bloods were also significantly associated with the RVR group, implicating a potential role of the cellular immunity during the early phase of IFN/RBV therapy. Therefore, the immunological programs established by chronic hepatitis C and rapid disruption of the delicate balance by exogenous type I IFN might be associated with the subsequent virological outcomes in chronic hepatitis C patients.
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