title: Assessment of pro-inflammatory cytokines in sera of patients with hepatitis C virus infection before and after anti-viral therapy.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  A number of cytokines have been implicated in hepatitis C virus (HCV)-related liver disease. This study aimed to assess the serum levels of pro-inflammatory cytokines in patients with HCV infection before (naïve) and after successful treatment (sustained responders) with Pegylated interferon and ribavirin.
  
  
  METHODS
  The present study included 19 naïve HCV patients and 8 sustained responders. Additionally, 20 healthy individuals were included as a control group. The serum levels of the pro-inflammatory cytokines interleukin-8 (IL-8), IL-6, IL-10, IL-1β, and IL-12p70 were measured using flow cytometry.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The serum IL-8 levels were significantly higher in the naïve group (21.5±10.7 pg/mL; p=0.02) than in the control group (14.1±1.7 pg/mL) and the sustained responder group (10.4±6.2 pg/mL; p=0.002). The serum IL-6 levels were significantly higher in the naïve group (7.3±2.06 pg/mL; p=0.02) than in the control group (5.9±1.01 pg/mL) whereas IL-6 in sustained responder group (6.4±1.5 pg/mL) was no different than naïve HCV patients or the controls. The serum IL-10 levels were significantly higher in the naïve group (4.42±0.64 pg/mL) than in the control group (3.6±0.34 pg/mL; p=0.0002) and not the sustained responder group (4.1±0.86 pg/mL). Moreover, the serum IL-12p70 levels were higher in the sustained responder group (3.43±0.84 pg/mL; p=0.05) than in the control group (2.76±0.83 pg/mL). There were no differences in the serum IL-1β levels among the groups.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Successful anti-viral therapy against HCV was associated with significant reductions in the serum IL-8 levels and skewing of the pretreatment Th2 dominant immune response to the Th1 response.
authors: King Khalid University Hospital, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. aalhetheel@ksu.edu.sa.
authors: Abdulkarim
authors: A
authors: Alhetheel
authors: Ahmed
authors: A
authors: Albarrag
authors: Zahid
authors: Z
authors: Shakoor
authors: Khalid
authors: K
authors: Alswat
authors: Ayman
authors: A
authors: Abdo
authors: Waleed
authors: W
authors: Al-Hamoudi
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000998:Antiviral Agents / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D016207:Cytokines / Q000097:blood*; D005434:Flow Cytometry; D019698:Hepatitis C, Chronic / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000473:pathology*; D006801:Humans; D016898:Interferon-alpha / Q000627:therapeutic use; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012254:Ribavirin / Q000627:therapeutic use; D044967:Serum / Q000737:chemistry*; D000072230:Sustained Virologic Response; D055815:Young Adult
chemical_list: D000998:Antiviral Agents; D016207:Cytokines; D016898:Interferon-alpha; D012254:Ribavirin