Portal de Periódicos da CAPES

Cellular immune responses and occult infection in seronegative heterosexual partners of chronic hepatitis C patients

2011; Wiley; Volume: 18; Issue: 10 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1111/j.1365-2893.2011.01464.x

1365-2893

María C. Roque‐Cuéllar, B. Sánchez, José R. García‐Lozano, Juan Manuel Praena‐Fernández, Antonio Núñez‐Roldán, J. Aguilar‐Reina,

Systemic Lupus Erythematosus Research

Journal of Viral HepatitisVolume 18, Issue 10 p. e541-e549 Cellular immune responses and occult infection in seronegative heterosexual partners of chronic hepatitis C patients M. C. Roque-Cuéllar, M. C. Roque-Cuéllar Grupo Sección de Hepatología, Servicio de Aparato Digestivo Hospital Universitario Virgen del Rocío de SevillaSearch for more papers by this authorB. Sánchez, B. Sánchez Servicio de Inmunología, Hospital Universitario Virgen del Rocío de SevillaSearch for more papers by this authorJ. R. García-Lozano, J. R. García-Lozano Servicio de Inmunología, Hospital Universitario Virgen del Rocío de SevillaSearch for more papers by this authorJ. M. Praena-Fernández, J. M. Praena-Fernández Unidad de Metodología y Evaluación de la Investigación. Fundación Pública Andaluza para la Gestión de la Investigación en Salud de Sevilla (FISEVI), IBIS. Hospital Universitario Virgen del Rocío de Sevilla, SpainSearch for more papers by this authorA. Núñez-Roldán, A. Núñez-Roldán Servicio de Inmunología, Hospital Universitario Virgen del Rocío de SevillaSearch for more papers by this authorJ. Aguilar-Reina, J. Aguilar-Reina Grupo Sección de Hepatología, Servicio de Aparato Digestivo Hospital Universitario Virgen del Rocío de SevillaSearch for more papers by this author M. C. Roque-Cuéllar, M. C. Roque-Cuéllar Grupo Sección de Hepatología, Servicio de Aparato Digestivo Hospital Universitario Virgen del Rocío de SevillaSearch for more papers by this authorB. Sánchez, B. Sánchez Servicio de Inmunología, Hospital Universitario Virgen del Rocío de SevillaSearch for more papers by this authorJ. R. García-Lozano, J. R. García-Lozano Servicio de Inmunología, Hospital Universitario Virgen del Rocío de SevillaSearch for more papers by this authorJ. M. Praena-Fernández, J. M. Praena-Fernández Unidad de Metodología y Evaluación de la Investigación. Fundación Pública Andaluza para la Gestión de la Investigación en Salud de Sevilla (FISEVI), IBIS. Hospital Universitario Virgen del Rocío de Sevilla, SpainSearch for more papers by this authorA. Núñez-Roldán, A. Núñez-Roldán Servicio de Inmunología, Hospital Universitario Virgen del Rocío de SevillaSearch for more papers by this authorJ. Aguilar-Reina, J. Aguilar-Reina Grupo Sección de Hepatología, Servicio de Aparato Digestivo Hospital Universitario Virgen del Rocío de SevillaSearch for more papers by this author First published: 14 September 2011 https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-2893.2011.01464.xCitations: 15 J. Aguilar Reina, Servicio de Aparato Digestivo, Hospital Universitario Virgen del Rocío, Avenida Manuel Siurot s/n. CP: 41013, Spain. E-mail: [email protected] M. Carmen Roque-Cuéllar and Berta Sánchez contributed equally to this work. Read the full textAboutPDF ToolsRequest permissionExport citationAdd to favoritesTrack citation ShareShare Give accessShare full text accessShare full-text accessPlease review our Terms and Conditions of Use and check box below to share full-text version of article.I have read and accept the Wiley Online Library Terms and Conditions of UseShareable LinkUse the link below to share a full-text version of this article with your friends and colleagues. Learn more.Copy URL Share a linkShare onFacebookTwitterLinkedInRedditWechat Abstract Summary. It is unknown whether hepatitis C virus (HCV)-specific cellular immune responses can develop in seronegative sexual partners of chronically HCV-infected patients and whether they have occult infection. Thirty-one heterosexual partners of patients with chronic HCV were studied, fifteen of them with HCV transmission risks. Ten healthy individuals and 17 anti-HCV seropositive patients, without viremia, were used as controls. Virus-specific CD4+ and CD8+ T-cell responses were measured by flow cytometry against six HCV peptides, situated within the nonstructural (NS) proteins NS3, NS4 and NS5, through intracellular detection of gamma interferon (IFN-γ) or interleukin 4 (IL-4) production and CD69 expression. Sexual partners had a higher production of IFN-γ and IL-4 by CD4+ cells against NS3-p124 (P = 0.003), NS5b-p257 (P = 0.005) and NS5b-p294 (P = 0.012), and CD8+ cells against NS3-p124 (P = 0.002), NS4b-p177 (P = 0.001) and NS3-p294 (P = 0.004) as compared with healthy controls. We observed elevated IFN-γ production by CD4+ T cells against NS5b-p257 (P = 0.042) and NS5b-p294 (P = 0.009) in the sexual partners with HCV transmission risks (sexual, professional and familial altogether) than in those without risks. RNA was extracted from peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC), and detection of HCV-RNA positive and replicative (negative) strands was performed by strand-specific real-time PCR. In four sexual partners, the presence of positive and negative HCV- RNA strands in PBMC was confirmed. Hence, we found an HCV-specific cellular immune response as well as occult HCV infection in seronegative and aviremic sexual partners of chronically HCV-infected patients. Citing Literature Volume18, Issue10October 2011Pages e541-e549 RelatedInformation