Dynamics of immature subsets of dendritic cells during antiviral therapy in HLA-A24-positive chronic hepatitis C patients.
BACKGROUND
The cellular immune response is important in chronic hepatitis C (CHC). To better understand its mechanism, we examined dendritic cells (DCs) and hepatitis C virus (HCV)-specific cytotoxic T cells (CTLs), which are thought to contribute to liver injury and viral clearance.


METHODS
CHC patients received 24 weeks of interferon-alpha-based antiviral therapy. We analyzed time-sequential frequencies of peripheral DCs, classified as myeloid DCs (mDCs) or plasmacytoid DCs (pDCs), together with peptide major histocompatibility class I tetramers, epitope specific for HCV core 129-137 (t*24/c129) or HCV NS3 1296-1304 (t*24/ns1294), directly ex vivo.


RESULTS
The mDC and pDC populations changed in parallel (P < 0.05), showing a significant transient decrease at weeks 12 and 16 during the therapy, and then recovering. However, neither of the tetramer results showed a direct correlation with the kinetics of peripheral DCs.


CONCLUSIONS
There is an apparent effect of antiviral therapy or a subsequent reduction of HCV on host immunity, but the effect may not include the induction of CTLs in CHC.
Shiina
Masaaki
M
Division of Gastroenterology, Tohoku University Graduate School of Medicine, Sendai, Japan.
Kobayashi
Koju
K
Kobayashi
Tomoo
T
Kondo
Yasuteru
Y
Ueno
Yoshiyuki
Y
Shimosegawa
Tooru
T
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000998:Antiviral Agents / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D003713:Dendritic Cells / Q000276:immunology*; D005260:Female; D005434:Flow Cytometry; D015234:HLA-A Antigens / Q000097:blood; D059871:HLA-A24 Antigen; D016174:Hepacivirus / Q000276:immunology; D019698:Hepatitis C, Chronic / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000276:immunology*; D006801:Humans; D007111:Immunity, Cellular / Q000187:drug effects; D016898:Interferon-alpha / Q000627:therapeutic use; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012254:Ribavirin / Q000627:therapeutic use; D016176:T-Lymphocyte Subsets / Q000276:immunology; D013602:T-Lymphocytes, Cytotoxic / Q000276:immunology*
D000998:Antiviral Agents; D015234:HLA-A Antigens; D059871:HLA-A24 Antigen; D016898:Interferon-alpha; D012254:Ribavirin