Possible mechanism involving T-lymphocyte response to non-structural protein 3 in viral clearance in acute hepatitis C virus infection.
In acute hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection only 20-50% of patients spontaneously clear the virus. To characterise the immune reaction during that phase we studied the response of peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) to the recombinant HCV proteins core, non-structural protein 3 (NS3), NS4, and NS5 in 14 patients with acute hepatitis C. All eight patients with self-limited disease compared with two of six with evolving chronic infection showed an NS3- specific PBMC response (p = 0.015). Of 65 patients with established chronic hepatitis C, five showed a PBMC response to NS3. NS3-specific CD4 T-cell clones from patients with self-limited infection predominantly produced interferon-gamma and may thus support cytotoxic effector mechanisms important for viral clearance.
D000208:Acute Disease; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000914:Antibodies, Viral / Q000276:immunology; D005838:Genotype; D016174:Hepacivirus / Q000235:genetics / Q000276:immunology*; D006526:Hepatitis C / Q000276:immunology*; D006801:Humans; D007963:Leukocytes, Mononuclear / Q000276:immunology; D008875:Middle Aged; D013601:T-Lymphocytes / Q000276:immunology*; D017361:Viral Nonstructural Proteins / Q000276:immunology*
D000914:Antibodies, Viral; D017361:Viral Nonstructural Proteins