title: Early decrease in circulating dendritic cells number after liver transplantation could favor hepatitis C virus recurrence.
abstract: Cirrhosis and hepatocarcinoma related to hepatitis C virus (HCV) lead to more than 30% of liver transplantations. Host- and virus-related mechanisms, involved in the recurrence of HCV infection of the liver graft, are not yet well known. A weak CD4+ T-cell response was shown to be involved in the outcome of re-infection but whether dendritic cell numbers are modified in patients transplanted for HCV-related disease has never been evaluated. Eight transplanted patients for HCV-related disease and eight non-HCV-infected transplanted controls were included. Blood plasmacytoid dendritic cells and myeloid dendritic cells were quantified before transplantation, at day 7 and 1 month after transplantation. Plasma interferon (IFN)-alpha and interleukin (IL)-12 were concomitantly measured. The results showed a significant decrease in the relative (P < 0.0001) and absolute (P = 0.0002) values of blood plasmacytoid dendritic cells at day 7 after transplantation when compared to the values obtained before transplantation, increasing again 1 month later, in both HCV-infected patients and controls. The same tendency was observed for myeloid dendritic cell relative values (P = 0.0004) and plasma IL-12 (P < 0.05). IFN-alpha appeared to be less often detectable for HCV-infected patients. These results obtained on dendritic cell numbers could explain partially the early and systematic recurrence of HCV infection on the liver graft and contribute to better adapted therapeutic strategies.
authors.affiliation: Institut de Virologie et Unité INSERM 748, Strasbourg, France. Evelyne.Schvoerer@chru-strasbourg.fr
authors.forename: Evelyne
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Schvoerer
authors.forename: Christine
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Thumann
authors.forename: Stephan
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Spohrer
authors.forename: Eric
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Soulier
authors.forename: Cathy
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Royer
authors.forename: Nicolas
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Brignon
authors.forename: Stéphane
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Doridot
authors.forename: Nicolas
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Meyer
authors.forename: Bernard
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Ellero
authors.forename: Marie-Lorraine
authors.initials: ML
authors.lastname: Woehl-Jaegle
authors.forename: Carole
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Meyer
authors.forename: Philippe
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Wolf
authors.forename: Daniel
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Jaeck
authors.forename: Françoise
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Stoll-Keller
mesh_terms: D002452:Cell Count; D003713:Dendritic Cells / Q000166:cytology* / Q000276:immunology; D006526:Hepatitis C / Q000209:etiology / Q000601:surgery*; D006801:Humans; D016031:Liver Transplantation; D012008:Recurrence; D013997:Time Factors