Center for the Study of Hepatitis C, Laboratory of Virology and Infectious Disease, The Rockefeller University, New York, New York 10065, USA.
J Clin Invest. 2011 Jan;121(1):25-7. doi: 10.1172/JCI45610. Epub 2010 Dec 22.
Immune responses to hepatitis C virus (HCV) fail to clear the virus in most individuals. Why patients who are less likely to clear HCV infection have high plasma levels of CXCL10 (also known as IP-10), a chemokine that directs T cells to sites of infection, has long been unclear. In this issue of the JCI, Casrouge and colleagues shed light on this paradox by showing that CXCL10 in the plasma of many HCV patients is enzymatically processed to produce a CXCL10 receptor antagonist. These findings introduce a role for chemokine antagonism during HCV infection and unveil new avenues for improved HCV diagnosis and therapy.
机体针对丙型肝炎病毒 (HCV) 的免疫反应无法清除该病毒,这在大多数个体中均如此。长期以来,人们一直不清楚为什么那些更不可能清除 HCV 感染的患者的血浆中 CXCL10(也称为 IP-10)水平较高,而趋化因子 CXCL10 可引导 T 细胞到达感染部位。在本期 JCI 中,Casrouge 及其同事通过显示许多 HCV 患者的血浆中 CXCL10 经酶处理产生 CXCL10 受体拮抗剂,阐明了这一悖论。这些发现为 HCV 感染期间趋化因子拮抗作用引入了一个新的角色,并为改善 HCV 的诊断和治疗开辟了新的途径。