title: The expression of Fas and Fas ligand, and the effects of interferon in chronic liver diseases with hepatitis C virus.
abstract: In viral hepatitis, binding of Fas ligand (FasL) with Fas expressed on the surfaces of infected hepatocytes induces apoptosis, removing hepatitis virus along with infected hepatocytes. We measured serum concentrations of soluble Fas (sFas) and FasL (sFasL), expression of membrane-bound FasL, and expression of FasL-mRNA in patients with chronic hepatitis C without cirrhosis (CH-C) and chronic hepatitis C with liver cirrhosis (LC-C). In CH-C, sFasL concentrations were lower and FasL-mRNA expression was significantly less than in volunteers. In LC-C, sFas concentrations were significantly greater than in healthy volunteers, while sFasL, membrane-bound FasL expression, and FasL-mRNA expression did not show significant differences. We also examined these variables over 24 h following the first interferon (IFN) treatment in patients with CH-C. Serum concentrations of sFas and sFasL, and FasL-mRNA expression increased markedly beyond amounts present before IFN injection until 12 h after IFN injection. However, membrane-bound FasL expression decreased until 6 h, followed by an increase until 24 h. Our findings suggest that the ratio of membrane-bound FasL to sFasL may be regulated to remove virally infected cells in CH-C. In addition, apoptosis mediated by the Fas/FasL system may be influenced by IFN injection for treatment of CH-C.
authors.affiliation: First Department of Internal Medicine, Akita University School of Medicine, 1-1-1 Hondo, 010-0041, Akita, Japan
authors.forename: Kazuo
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Yoneyama
authors.forename: Takashi
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Goto
authors.forename: Kouichi
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Miura
authors.forename: Ken ichirou
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Mikami
authors.forename: Shigetoshi
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Ohshima
authors.forename: Kunio
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Nakane
authors.forename: Jiun Guey
authors.initials: JG
authors.lastname: Lin
authors.forename: Masashiro
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Sugawara
authors.forename: Norio
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Nakamura
authors.forename: Kamon
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Shirakawa
authors.forename: Masafumi
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Komatsu
authors.forename: Sumio
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Watanabe