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Natural Killer Cell Subsets Distribution in Spontaneously Resolved and ChronicPersistent Hepatitis C Virus Infection

Laila M Al Kady, Marwa A Mansour, Samaa T Gobran and Ebtesam I Ahmad

Altered frequency and distribution of natural killer cell subsets have been reported in hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection.We investigated the frequency of NK cells and inhibitory receptor CD158 in a sample of Egyptian patients with spontaneously resolved (SR) and chronic persistent hepatitis C virus (CPHC) infection, and correlated data with other clinical and diagnostic parameters. The study was conducted on 48 patients divided into 3 groups. Group I; 16 CPHC patients, Group II; 16 SR individuals and Group III; 16 healthy controls. Chronic persistent HCV patients and SR individual’s data were reported from patients ' reports. Healthy controls serum antibodies against HCV were measured using ELISA technique. The three studied groups fresh peripheral blood samples were analyzed by flow cytometry to determine total NK cells, their subsets and CD158b⁺ cells percentages. Total NK cells and CD56^+dim CD16+ NK cells were significantly decreased in CPHC patients and SR individuals in comparison to healthy controls(P<0.001).In contrast, CD56^+bright CD16− NK cells were significantly increased in CPHC patients and reduced in SR individuals in comparison with healthy controls (P<0.001). Significant elevation of CD158b inhibitory receptor frequency in CPHC patients in comparison with healthy controls (P<0.001) and it was positively correlated with stage of cirrhosis, unresponsiveness to IFN, WBCs and lymphocytes counts and AST and ALT levels. In conclusion, during the chronic HCV infection stage, the frequency of NK cells is significantly depressed and CD158b⁺ inhibitory receptor might be represent this impairment. On the other hand, in SR individuals, total NK cells were significantly decreased. Also, CD56^+dim CD16+ NK cells and CD56^+bright CD16− NK cells percentages were significantly decreased (P<0.001) although preserving nearly the same ratio of healthy controls. Also, there was no significant elevation in CD158b+ cells frequency (P>0.05).