Assessment of regulatory T lymphocytes in different clinical presentation of chronic hepatitis C virus infection

ABSTRACT

CD4CD25[+] regulatory T lymphocytes are a subset of circulating CD4 T cells with suppressive properties. CD4CD25[+] regulatory T cells suppress HCV-specific T cell responses and it has been suggested that they may play a role in viral persistence. Our aim was to assess the frequency of regulatory T cells in the different clinical presentation of chronic hepatitis C virus infection in Egyptian population. Peripheral blood CD4[+]CD25[+] regulatory T cells from patients with chronic HCV [n=20], patients with HCV related liver cirrhosis [n=20], patients with HCV related-HCC [[n=20], and from normal control subjects [n20], were analyzed by flow cytometry. A higher frequency of CD4CD25 regulatory T cells were found in chronic HCV [3 +/- 0.9%], Hey related liver cirrhosis [3 +/- 0.8%], HCV related-HCC [3.9 +/- 1.6%], when compared with normal controls [2.3 +/- 0.8%]. No statistical significant differences were found when comparing HCV related cirrhotic patients with chronic HCV infected patients [p=0.95]. Meanwhile, a significant increase was detected when comparing HCV related HCC patients with chronic HCV patients [p=0.047]. Our results indicated the presence of higher than normal frequency of peripheral blood CD4CD25 regulatory T cell among Egyptian patients with different clinical presentation of chronic hepatitis C virus infection and in particular HCC