Possible mechanism involving T-lymphocyte response to non-structural protein 3 in viral clearance in acute hepatitis C virus infection

Diepolder, Helmut M
Zachoval, Reinhart
Hoffmann, Robert M
Wierenga, Eddy A
Santantonio, Teresa
Jung, Maria-Christina
Eichenlaub, Dieter
Pape, Gerard R

Institute for Immunology and Department of Medicine II, Klinikum Grosshadern, University of Munich, 81377 Munich, Germany (H M Diepolder MD, R Zachoval MD, R M Hoffmann MD, M-C Jung MD, Prof G R Pape MD); Laboratory of Cell Biology and Histology, University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, Netherlands (E A Wierenga PhD); Clinica Malattie Infettive, Universita degli studi di Bari, Bari, Italy (T Santantonio MD); and IV Department of Internal Medicine, Hospital Schwabing, Munich (Prof D Eichenlaub MD)
Correspondence to: Dr Helmut M Diepolder

The Lancet 346(8981):p 1006-1007, October 14, 1995.

In acute hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection only 20-50 percent of patients spontaneously clear the virus. To characterise the immune reaction during that phase we studied the response of peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) to the recombinant HCV proteins core, non-structural protein 3 (NS3), NS4, and NS5 in 14 patients with acute hepatitis C. All eight patients with self-limited disease compared with two of six with evolving chronic infection showed an NS3- specific PBMC response (p=0.015). Of 65 patients with established chronic hepatitis C, five showed a PBMC response to NS3. NS3-specific CD4 T-cell clones from patients with self-limited infection predominantly produced interferon-gamma and may thus support cytotoxic effector mechanisms important for viral clearance.

Lancet 1995; 346

1006-07