Involvement of dendritic cell frequency and function in virological relapse in pegylated interferon-α and ribavirin therapy for chronic hepatitis C patients

✍ Scribed by Ichiyo Itose; Tatsuya Kanto; Michiyo Inoue; Masanori Miyazaki; Hideki Miyatake; Mitsuru Sakakibara; Takayuki Yakushijin; Tsugiko Oze; Naoki Hiramatsu; Tetsuo Takehara; Akinori Kasahara; Kazuhiro Katayama; Michio Kato; Norio Hayashi

• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 2007
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 238 KB
• Volume: 79
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0146-6615
• DOI: 10.1002/jmv.20809

✦ Synopsis

Abstract

A combination of pegylated interferon α (PEG‐IFNα) and ribavirin has been used widely. Enhancement of immune response against hepatitis C virus (HCV) is known to be involved in the efficacy of the combination therapy. The aim of the study was to elucidate whether the frequency or function of immunocompetent blood cells is related to the outcome of the therapy. Twenty‐five chronic hepatitis C patients with high viral load of HCV genotype 1 who underwent 48 weeks of PEG‐IFNα2b and ribavirin therapy were examined. During the treatment, frequencies of dendritic cell subsets, helper T cell subsets, and NK cells were phenotypically determined. In some patients, the ability of dendritic cells to stimulate allogeneic CD4^+^T cells was examined at the end and after the therapy. Among the 25 patients, 11 showed a sustained virological response, 11 a transient response, and 3 no response. In comparison with sustained virological responders, non‐sustained virological responders showed impaired dendritic cell function at the end and after the treatment. The transient responders showed a decline of plasmacytoid dendritic cell frequency from Weeks 1–12 and impaired dendritic cell function as well. Even in patients who attained negative serum HCV RNA at Week 12, the transient responders showed a significant decrease of plasmacytoid dendritic cell frequency and impaired dendritic cell function. In conclusion, in PEG‐IFNα and ribavirin combination therapy for chronic hepatitis C patients, the early‐phase plasmacytoid dendritic cell frequency and/or end‐of‐treatment dendritic cell function are related to the virological outcome of the therapy. J. Med. Virol. 79:511–521, 2007. © 2007 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.