[Level of the cytokine secreted by periferal blood mononuclear cells in patients with chronic hepatitis C before antiviral therapy].
OBJECTIVE
To study the immune state of patients with chronic hepatitis C before antiviral therapy by detecting the levels of the cytokines interleukin (IL)-2, IL-4, IL-10, IL-12, interferon (IFN)-gamma, and tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-alpha secretion by periferal blood mononuclear cells (PBMC).


METHODS
The level of the cytokine secreted by PBMC in patients with chronic hepatitis C after culturing for 72 hours in vitro was detected by ELISA.


RESULTS
(1) Compared with the cytokine level of normal controls, the level of IFN-gamma, TNF-alpha, and IL-10 of patients with chronic hepatitis C significantly increased (P < 0.05) while IL-2, IL-4, and IL-12 were not detected in the culture supernatant of PBMC from both normal control and patients with chronic hepatitis C. (2) There was no statistically significant difference in secretion of the cytokines among patients with different severity of the disease.


CONCLUSIONS
PMBCs from patients with chronic hepatitis C tend to secret Th2 type cytokines. Restoring the imbalance of TH1/TH2 may help to clear the hepatitis C virus.
Dong
Yi
Y
Department of Immunology, Institute of Infectious Diseases, the No. 302 Hospital of the People's Liberation Army, Beijing 100039, China.
Zhang
Hong-fei
HF
Chen
Hao
H
Li
Jing
J
Yang
Xiao-jin
XJ
Zhu
Shi-shu
SS
Cheng
Yun
Y
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000998:Antiviral Agents / Q000627:therapeutic use; D016207:Cytokines / Q000097:blood*; D004797:Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay; D005260:Female; D019698:Hepatitis C, Chronic / Q000097:blood* / Q000188:drug therapy; D006801:Humans; D007371:Interferon-gamma / Q000097:blood / Q000627:therapeutic use; D016753:Interleukin-10 / Q000097:blood; D018664:Interleukin-12 / Q000097:blood; D015847:Interleukin-4 / Q000097:blood; D007963:Leukocytes, Mononuclear / Q000737:chemistry; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D055815:Young Adult
D000998:Antiviral Agents; D016207:Cytokines; D016753:Interleukin-10; D018664:Interleukin-12; D015847:Interleukin-4; D007371:Interferon-gamma