Oliveira Isabela S, Carvalho Lucas P, Schinoni Maria Isabel, Paraná Raymundo, Atta Ajax M, Atta Maria Luiza B Sousa
Programa de Pós-Graduação em Imunologia, Universidade Federal da Bahia, Salvador, BA, Brazil.
Serviço de Imunologia, Hospital Universitário Professor Edgard Santos, Universidade Federal da Bahia, Salvador, BA, Brazil.
Microb Pathog. 2016 Feb;91:155-60. doi: 10.1016/j.micpath.2015.12.007. Epub 2015 Dec 21.
Chronic infection with hepatitis C virus (HCV) causes a quantitative and functional alteration in innate and adaptative immunity. In the present work, we determined by flow-cytometry the profile of blood lymphocyte of untreated HCV patients and in subjects of this group that achieved or not an early virologic response at 12-weeks of treatment with interferon-α plus ribavirin. Twenty-six untreated HCV patients and 20 control healthy individuals were enrolled in the study. Untreated HCV patients had a higher proportion of B cell and a lower proportion of CD8(+) T cell and NK cells than healthy individuals did, but the proportions of CD4(+) T cells and Treg cells (CD4(+)CD25(+)Foxp3(+)) were similar in these patients and controls. Untreated HCV patients presenting cryoglobulinemia had a lower proportion of Treg cells and a lower Treg/NK cell ratio when compared with those without cryoglobulins. Nineteen out of 26 untreated HCV patients remained in the study and were treated with Interferon-α plus ribavirin. At 12-weeks of treatment, 10 of them achieved early virologic response (EVR), whereas 9 were non-responders (NR). EVR patients differed from NR patients in the increase of their proportion of NK cells at 12 weeks of treatment. In conclusion, untreated HCV patients exhibit an altered profile of blood lymphocyte subsets, including a reduction in the proportion of CD4(+)CD25(+)FoxP3(+)T regulatory cells in patients that present cryoglobulinemia. An early virological response at 12-weeks of treatment with IFN-α plus ribavirin seems to be associated a significant improvement in the proportion of NK cells of HCV treated patients.
丙型肝炎病毒（HCV）慢性感染会导致先天性和适应性免疫在数量和功能上发生改变。在本研究中，我们通过流式细胞术测定了未经治疗的HCV患者以及该组中在接受α干扰素加利巴韦林治疗12周时实现或未实现早期病毒学应答的受试者的血液淋巴细胞谱。26名未经治疗的HCV患者和20名健康对照个体参与了该研究。未经治疗的HCV患者的B细胞比例高于健康个体，而CD8(+) T细胞和NK细胞比例低于健康个体，但这些患者和对照中CD4(+) T细胞和调节性T细胞（CD4(+)CD25(+)Foxp3(+)）的比例相似。与无冷球蛋白血症的未经治疗的HCV患者相比，出现冷球蛋白血症的患者调节性T细胞比例更低，Treg/NK细胞比率也更低。26名未经治疗的HCV患者中有19名继续参与研究并接受α干扰素加利巴韦林治疗。在治疗12周时，其中10名实现了早期病毒学应答（EVR），而9名无应答（NR）。EVR患者与NR患者的区别在于治疗12周时NK细胞比例增加。总之，未经治疗的HCV患者表现出血液淋巴细胞亚群谱改变，包括出现冷球蛋白血症的患者中CD4(+)CD25(+)FoxP3(+)调节性T细胞比例降低。α干扰素加利巴韦林治疗12周时的早期病毒学应答似乎与HCV治疗患者NK细胞比例的显著改善有关。
