title: Lymphocyte subsets in hemophilic patients with hepatitis C virus infection with or without human immunodeficiency virus co-infection: a nested cross-sectional study.
abstract: BACKGROUND: With chronic infection, hepatitis C virus (HCV) RNA can be detected in B cells and associated with B-cell disorders, but these are not well defined. METHODS: The relationship between HCV infection and lymphocyte subpopulations was evaluated rigorously in 120 asymptomatic hemophilic patients, randomly selected from a prospective cohort study. CD4+ T cells, CD8+ T cells, CD19+ B cells, and CD56+ NK cells were quantified by flow cytometry using cryopreserved peripheral blood mononuclear cells of 24 hemophilic patients in each of five age-matched groups [uninfected; chronic HCV with or without human immunodeficiency virus (HIV); and cleared HCV with or without HIV]. RESULTS: As expected, patients with HIV had significantly reduced CD4+ and increased CD8+ T cells. Irrespective of HIV, patients with chronic HCV infection had approximately 25% fewer CD19+ B cells than those without chronic HCV infection. CONCLUSIONS: These data support the hypothesis that asymptomatic patients with chronic HCV infection have an altered B-lymphocyte population.
authors.affiliation: Viral Epidemiology Branch, Division of Cancer Epidemiology and Genetics, National Cancer Institute, Rockville, MD; USA. mingdong@mail.nih.gov.
authors.forename: Mingdong
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.forename: Thomas R
authors.initials: TR
authors.lastname: O'brien
authors.forename: William C
authors.initials: WC
authors.lastname: Kopp
authors.forename: James J
authors.initials: JJ
authors.lastname: Goedert