title: Evidence for an antagonist form of the chemokine CXCL10 in patients chronically infected with HCV.
abstract: Chronic infection with hepatitis C virus (HCV) is a major public health problem, with nearly 170 million infected individuals worldwide. Current treatment for chronic infection is a combination of pegylated IFN-α2 and ribavirin (RBV); however, this treatment is effective in fewer than 50% of patients infected with HCV genotype 1 or 4. Recent studies identified the chemokine CXCL10 (also known as IP-10) as an important negative prognostic biomarker. Given that CXCL10 mediates chemoattraction of activated lymphocytes, it is counterintuitive that this chemokine correlates with therapeutic nonresponsiveness. Herein, we offer new insight into this paradox and provide evidence that CXCL10 in the plasma of patients chronically infected with HCV exists in an antagonist form, due to in situ amino-terminal truncation of the protein. We further demonstrated that dipeptidyl peptidase IV (DPP4; also known as CD26), possibly in combination with other proteases, mediates the generation of the antagonist form(s) of CXCL10. These data offer what we believe to be the first evidence for CXCL10 antagonism in human disease and identify a possible factor contributing to the inability of patients to clear HCV.
authors.affiliation: The Laboratory of Dendritic Cell Biology, Department of Immunology, Institut Pasteur, Paris, France.
authors.forename: Armanda
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Casrouge
authors.forename: Jérémie
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Decalf
authors.forename: Mina
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Ahloulay
authors.forename: Cyril
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Lababidi
authors.forename: Hala
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Mansour
authors.forename: Anaïs
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Vallet-Pichard
authors.forename: Vincent
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Mallet
authors.forename: Estelle
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Mottez
authors.forename: James
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Mapes
authors.forename: Arnaud
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Fontanet
authors.forename: Stanislas
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Pol
authors.forename: Matthew L
authors.initials: ML
authors.lastname: Albert
mesh_terms: D000998:Antiviral Agents / Q000627:therapeutic use; D054357:Chemokine CXCL10 / Q000037:antagonists & inhibitors* / Q000097:blood*; D018819:Dipeptidyl Peptidase 4 / Q000097:blood; D019698:Hepatitis C, Chronic / Q000097:blood* / Q000276:immunology* / Q000628:therapy / Q000821:virology; D006801:Humans; D000077190:Interferon alpha-2; D016898:Interferon-alpha / Q000627:therapeutic use; D010446:Peptide Fragments / Q000097:blood; D011092:Polyethylene Glycols / Q000627:therapeutic use; D011379:Prognosis; D040081:Protein Array Analysis; D054367:Receptors, CXCR3 / Q000097:blood; D011994:Recombinant Proteins; D012254:Ribavirin / Q000627:therapeutic use; D013601:T-Lymphocytes / Q000276:immunology / Q000821:virology; D017211:Treatment Failure
chemical_list: D000998:Antiviral Agents; C114753:CXCL10 protein, human; C515187:CXCR3 protein, human; D054357:Chemokine CXCL10; D000077190:Interferon alpha-2; D016898:Interferon-alpha; D010446:Peptide Fragments; D054367:Receptors, CXCR3; D011994:Recombinant Proteins; D011092:Polyethylene Glycols; D012254:Ribavirin; C042807:DPP4 protein, human; D018819:Dipeptidyl Peptidase 4; C100416:peginterferon alfa-2a