title: [Cytokine levels in serum of patients with chronic hepatitis C and its significance].
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To investigate the relationship between the changes of cytokine levels in serum and ALT, HCV genotype, HCV RNA loading and the effectiveness of IFN treatment. The cytokines included IL-2, IFN-γ, IL-5, IL-6, IL-12P70 and IL-12P40.
  
  
  METHODS
  Contents of IL-2, IFN-γ, IL-5, IL-6, IL-12P70 and IL-12P40 in serum of 30 patients with chronic hepatitis C and 30 healthy adults were detected. The relationship of cytokine level with ALT level , HCV genotype, HCV RNA load were analyzed . The differences of these cytokine levels in the groups of response and nonresponse to interferon treatment were compared. Serum cytokines were detected by the method of ELISA. HCV genotypes were classified by direct sequencing. HCV RNA loads were determined by fluorescence quantitative PCR.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The content of IL-2 was decreased and the contents of IL-5 and I L-12P40 increased in the patients with chronic hepatitis C compared with normal control. The serum level of IL-6 were directly proportional to the serum levels of ALT, while inversely proportional to that of HCV RNA load, and in HCV genotype 1 patients was significantly higher than that in genotype 2 patients, the other cytokine levels had no differences between two genotypes. The sustained response rate of IFN treatment was 46.7%. There were no difference of all cytokines detected between the groups of response and nonresponse before IFN therapy, but the level of IFN-γ were increased after interferon therapy in the response group.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The imbalance of immune cytokines had correlation with the chronicity if HCV infection and the activity of liver inflammation. There are no correlation between the levels of Th1/Th2 cytokines in the serum before IFN treatment and the outcome of IFN therapy. Increasing IFN-γ in the serum induced by IFN treatment is associated with sustained response.
authors.affiliation: Department of Infectious Disease, Shengjing Hospital, China Medical University, Shenyang 110004, China. zhangl@sj-hospital.org
authors.forename: Lin
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.forename: Liang
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Miao
authors.forename: Feng
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Han
authors.forename: Xiao-guang
authors.initials: XG
authors.lastname: Dou
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000410:Alanine Transaminase / Q000097:blood / Q000187:drug effects; D016207:Cytokines / Q000097:blood* / Q000187:drug effects; D005260:Female; D016174:Hepacivirus / Q000302:isolation & purification; D019698:Hepatitis C, Chronic / Q000097:blood* / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000821:virology; D006801:Humans; D007371:Interferon-gamma / Q000097:blood / Q000378:metabolism; D007372:Interferons / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D053762:Interleukin-12 Subunit p40 / Q000097:blood / Q000187:drug effects; D007376:Interleukin-2 / Q000097:blood; D015847:Interleukin-4 / Q000097:blood; D015848:Interleukin-5 / Q000097:blood; D015850:Interleukin-6 / Q000097:blood; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012367:RNA, Viral / Q000032:analysis / Q000097:blood; D058408:Th1-Th2 Balance / Q000187:drug effects; D019562:Viral Load
chemical_list: D016207:Cytokines; D053762:Interleukin-12 Subunit p40; D007376:Interleukin-2; D015848:Interleukin-5; D015850:Interleukin-6; D012367:RNA, Viral; D015847:Interleukin-4; D007371:Interferon-gamma; D007372:Interferons; D000410:Alanine Transaminase