Alhetheel Abdulkarim, Albarrag Ahmed, Shakoor Zahid, Alswat Khalid, Abdo Ayman, Al-Hamoudi Waleed
King Khalid University Hospital, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
J Infect Dev Ctries. 2016 Oct 31;10(10):1093-1098. doi: 10.3855/jidc.7595.
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.
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.
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.
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.
多种细胞因子与丙型肝炎病毒（HCV）相关肝病有关。本研究旨在评估聚乙二醇化干扰素和利巴韦林治疗前（初治）及成功治疗后（持续应答者）HCV感染患者的促炎细胞因子血清水平。
本研究纳入19例初治HCV患者和8例持续应答者。另外，纳入20名健康个体作为对照组。采用流式细胞术检测促炎细胞因子白细胞介素-8（IL-8）、IL-6、IL-10、IL-1β和IL-12p70的血清水平。
初治组血清IL-8水平（21.5±10.7 pg/mL；p=0.02）显著高于对照组（14.1±1.7 pg/mL）和持续应答组（10.4±6.2 pg/mL；p=0.002）。初治组血清IL-6水平（7.3±2.06 pg/mL；p=0.02）显著高于对照组（5.9±1.01 pg/mL），而持续应答组的IL-6水平（6.4±1.5 pg/mL）与初治HCV患者或对照组无差异。初治组血清IL-10水平（4.42±0.64 pg/mL）显著高于对照组（3.6±0.34 pg/mL；p=0.0002），但与持续应答组（4.1±0.86 pg/mL）无差异。此外，持续应答组血清IL-12p70水平（3.43±0.84 pg/mL；p=0.05）高于对照组（2.76±0.83 pg/mL）。各组血清IL-1β水平无差异。
成功的抗HCV病毒治疗与血清IL-8水平显著降低以及治疗前以Th2为主的免疫反应向Th1反应转变有关。
