Increased PD-L1 expression and PD-L1/CD86 ratio on dendritic cells were associated with impaired dendritic cells function in HCV infection.
Impaired hepatitis C virus (HCV)-specific T cell immunity was associated with the persistence of HCV infection. Dysfunction of dentritic cells (DCs) was believed to be involved in T cell exhaustion, but the mechanisms were rarely understood. In this study, surface costimulatory marker (CD83, CD86, and CD40), coinhibitory marker (PD-L1) expression and allostimulatory capacity of plasmacytoid DCs (pDCs) and myeloid DCs (mDCs) were evaluated in HCV-infected patients. Results showed that the expression of both costimulatory and coinhibitory markers was increased in HCV-infected patients compared with healthy controls. PD-L1/CD86 ratio was increased and positively correlated with PD-L1 expression on DCs in HCV-infected patients. Allostimulatory capacity of DCs was impaired and inversely correlated with PD-L1 expression and PD-L1/CD86 ratio. These findings suggested that the effect of inhibitory marker PD-L1 overwhelmed the effect of costimulatory markers and down regulated DC-T activation in HCV-infected patients. The results will be helpful to understand the mechanism of dysfunction of DCs in HCV infection and shed light on the DC-based immunotherapeutic strategy.
Department of Microbiology, Peking University Health Science Center, Beijing, China. taoshen@hsc.pku.edu.cn
Tao
T
Shen
Xiangmei
X
Chen
Yu
Y
Chen
Qiang
Q
Xu
Fengmin
F
Lu
Shuang
S
Liu
D000328:Adult; D015703:Antigens, CD / Q000378:metabolism*; D051940:B7-2 Antigen / Q000378:metabolism*; D060890:B7-H1 Antigen; D003713:Dendritic Cells / Q000276:immunology* / Q000378:metabolism; D015536:Down-Regulation; D005260:Female; D016174:Hepacivirus; D006526:Hepatitis C / Q000276:immunology*; D006801:Humans; D008213:Lymphocyte Activation / Q000502:physiology; D008297:Male; D013601:T-Lymphocytes / Q000276:immunology
D015703:Antigens, CD; D051940:B7-2 Antigen; D060890:B7-H1 Antigen; C423236:CD274 protein, human; C497964:CD86 protein, human