ANALYSIS OF T-HELPER SUBSETS OF PERIPHERAL BLOOD OF PATIENTS WITH CHRONIC HEPATITIS C EXPRESSING CHEMOKINE RECEPTORS CXCR3 AND CCR6 AND ACTIVATION MARKERS CD38 AND HLA-DR

Abstract

Abstract. In case of hepatitis C the adequate adaptive immune response depends on T-helper lymphocyte subsets and recruiting specific T cells in the site of infection. The purpose of the study was to assess changes in subpopulations of T-helper cells bearing chemokine receptor CXCR3 and CCR6 and activation markers CD38 and HLA-DR in peripheral blood of patients with chronic hepatitis C (n = 19) and healthy donors (n = 32). The T-helper phenotype was assessed by flow cytometry using a combination of monoclonal antibodies HLA-DR-FITC/CD38-PE/CD3-ECD/CCR6-PE-Cy7/CXCR3-APC/CD4-APC-Cy7. It was demonstrated reduction of CD38+ subset, increase of CXCR3+ and CCR6+ subsets of T-helper cells in particular CD3+CD4+ CXCR3+CCR6+ cells and importance of joint determination of the chemokine receptors CXCR3 and CCR6 and the activation markers CD38 and HLA-DR compared to their separate analysis in chronic hepatitis C.

Keywords

• hepatitis c
• t-helpers
• chemokine receptors
• activation markers
• cxcr3
• ccr6
• cd38
• hla-dr