[Study of hepatitis C virus specific immune responses in anti-HCV positive patients without hepatitis C viremia].
OBJECTIVE
To study the hepatitis C virus specific immune responses in anti - HCV positive patients without hepatitis C viremia.


METHODS
15 anti-HCV positive patients without hepatitis C viremia, 15 patients with chronic HCV infection and 15 normal controls were selected for this study. The T cell responses, NK cell (natural killer cells) activity, cytokine production and HCV specific antibodies were detected by MTT, LDH release and ELISA.


RESULTS
Our study showed that the T cell proliferative reaction of patients without hepatitis C viremia was significantly higher than that of patients with chronic HCV infection and normal controls and the T cell response for HCV core antigen were higher than NS3 and N54, but there was no significant proliferative response to NS5 antigen. We also found that there were no differences in anti-HCV antibody production and NK cell activity between the two groups and the level of IFN-gamma in patients without hepatitis C viremia was higher than that in patients with persistent HCV infection.


CONCLUSIONS
There are a lot of advantageous changes of HCV specific humoral and cellular immune response in anti-HCV positive patients without hepatitis C viremia, these immune responses may play a role in clearance of HCV.
Yao
P
P
Institute of Liver Disease PLA, Beijing Army General Hosoital, Beijing 100700, China.
Hu
X
X
Hu
D
D
D000328:Adult; D002353:Carrier State / Q000276:immunology*; D005260:Female; D016174:Hepacivirus / Q000276:immunology; D018937:Hepatitis C Antibodies / Q000097:blood*; D019698:Hepatitis C, Chronic / Q000276:immunology*; D006801:Humans; D007111:Immunity, Cellular; D007371:Interferon-gamma / Q000096:biosynthesis; D007694:Killer Cells, Natural / Q000276:immunology*; D008213:Lymphocyte Activation; D008297:Male; D013601:T-Lymphocytes / Q000276:immunology*; D014766:Viremia
D018937:Hepatitis C Antibodies; D007371:Interferon-gamma