title: Regulatory T cells in hepatitis C virus infection.
abstract: Hepatitis C virus (HCV) is a highly mutable RNA virus with a high propensity for chronic infection, affecting over 3% of the world's population. Persistent infection is associated with chronic hepatitis that may progress to cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma over many years of infection. While cellular immune response plays a key role in viral infection, HCV persistence is associated with antiviral effector T-cell dysfunction with increased CD4+ CD25+ Tregs and interleukin-10+ Tr1cells, raising the possibility that the balance between antiviral effector and regulatory T-cell subsets contributes to the outcome of HCV infection.
authors.affiliation: Department of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania & Philadelphia VA Medical Center, Philadelphia, USA.
authors.forename: Kyong-Mi
authors.initials: KM
authors.lastname: Chang