Powered by OpenAIRE graph

Differential expression of Toll-like receptors 7 & 8 mRNA in monocytes of patients with chronic hepatitis C infection: correlation with interferon and ribavirin treatment.

Authors: Ghada, Boghdadi; Waseem Mohamed, Seleem;

Differential expression of Toll-like receptors 7 & 8 mRNA in monocytes of patients with chronic hepatitis C infection: correlation with interferon and ribavirin treatment.

Abstract

Toll-like receptors (TLRs) have been identified as key regulators of innate and adaptive immune responses in viral infection. The contribution of the host immune response to sustained virologic response is not clear in patients with chronic hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection. This study aimed to investigate the expression of TLRs 7 & 8 mRNA in monocytes of patients with chronic (HCV) infection showing different responses to interferon and ribavirin treatment. The study group was comprised of 21 chronic HCV infected patients. mRNA levels of TLRs 7 & 8 in monocytes were evaluated using real-time PCR before a 48-week treatment with pegylated interferon (PEG-IFN) alpha-2b and ribavirin. In addition, we studied TNF production in monocytes using three-color immunofluorescence and flow cytometry after TLRs 7 & 8 ligand (R848) stimulation. According to the virological outcome of the treatment, the infected patients were classified into nonresponders (NR) and sustained virological responders (SVR). The study determined that mRNA levels of TLRs 7 & 8 were significantly high in SVR compared to NR. Furthermore, after stimulation with R848 the median fluorescence intensity for TNF protein was significantly high in SVR compared to NR. Our data show that a differential mRNA expression of TLRs 7 & 8 is associated with different responses to IFN-based antiviral therapy in patients with chronic HCV. These findings suggest that the TLRs-expression profiles of monocytes from patients with chronic HCV may be useful biomarkers for IFN therapy.

Keywords

Adult, Male, Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction, Gene Expression Profiling, Imidazoles, Fluorescent Antibody Technique, Interferon-alpha, Hepacivirus, Hepatitis C, Chronic, Interferon alpha-2, Middle Aged, Flow Cytometry, Antiviral Agents, Monocytes, Recombinant Proteins, Polyethylene Glycols, Humans, Female, RNA, Messenger, Cells, Cultured

  • BIP!
    Impact byBIP!
    citations
    This is an alternative to the "Influence" indicator, which also reflects the overall/total impact of an article in the research community at large, based on the underlying citation network (diachronically).
    5
    popularity
    This indicator reflects the "current" impact/attention (the "hype") of an article in the research community at large, based on the underlying citation network.
    Average
    influence
    This indicator reflects the overall/total impact of an article in the research community at large, based on the underlying citation network (diachronically).
    Average
    impulse
    This indicator reflects the initial momentum of an article directly after its publication, based on the underlying citation network.
    Average
Powered by OpenAIRE graph
citations
This is an alternative to the "Influence" indicator, which also reflects the overall/total impact of an article in the research community at large, based on the underlying citation network (diachronically).
BIP!Citations provided by BIP!
popularity
This indicator reflects the "current" impact/attention (the "hype") of an article in the research community at large, based on the underlying citation network.
BIP!Popularity provided by BIP!
influence
This indicator reflects the overall/total impact of an article in the research community at large, based on the underlying citation network (diachronically).
BIP!Influence provided by BIP!
impulse
This indicator reflects the initial momentum of an article directly after its publication, based on the underlying citation network.
BIP!Impulse provided by BIP!
5
Average
Average
Average