Hepatitis C virus (HCV) is an important human pathogen that represents a model for chronic infection given that the majority of infected individuals fail to clear the infection despite generation of virus-specific T cell responses during the period of acute infection. Although viral sequence evolution at targeted MHC class I-restricted epitopes represents one mechanism for immune escape in HCV,...

Chronic hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection is associated with impaired proliferative, cytokine, and cytotoxic effector functions of HCV-specific CD8(+) T cells that probably contribute significantly to viral persistence. Here, we investigated the potential role of T cells with a CD4(+)CD25(+) regulatory phenotype in suppressing virus-specific CD8(+) T-cell proliferation during chronic HCV infect...

BACKGROUND Hepatitis C virus (HCV) is a hepatotropic and lymphotropic virus that causes hepatic and extrahepatic disease. Emerging clinical data suggest that chronic HCV infection can lead to many direct and indirect effects on the lung. OBJECTIVES This article discusses evidence on the relationship between HCV infection and pulmonary fibrosis to increase knowledge on this topic among clinici...

conclusions in conclusion, occult hbv was found in 36% of patients with negative results for hbsag, but positive results for hcv. detection of hbv-dna in both pbmcs and plasma together in comparison with plasma alone provided more true identification of obi.the svr rate was significantly higher in coinfected patients than mono-infected ones. background occult hepatitis b virus (hbv) infection (...

Hepatitis C virus (HCV) is a positive sense, single-stranded RNA virus in the Flaviviridae family. It causes acute hepatitis with a high propensity for chronic infection. Chronic HCV infection can progress to severe liver disease including cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma. In the last decade, our basic understanding of HCV virology and life cycle has advanced greatly with the development ...

Hepatitis C virus (HCV) represents a major public health problem as a causative agent in developing chronic hepatitis, cirrhosis, and hepatocellular carcinoma. In recent years it has become known that HCV induces a broad spectrum of extrahepatic manifestations, including some cutaneous ones such as mixed cryoglobulinemia, porphyria cutanea tarda, leukocytoclastic vasculitis, lichen planus (LP),...

background the immune system plays important roles in determining the outcomes of hepatitis c virus (hcv) infection. interleukin-23 and -27 (il-23 and il-27) are two novel il-12 cytokine family members known to enhance the t-lymphocyte response, but their precise involvement in hcv infection is not well known. objectives we investigated the serum il-27 and il-23 levels in patients with hcv infe...

Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) plays a major role in liver pathology. Similar to other members of the herpesvirus family, EBV establishes a persistent infection in more than 90% of adults. The aim of this study was to evaluate the impact of EBV and chronic hepatitis C co-infection (HCV) on biochemical and immunological responses in patients. The study was conducted in 62 patients and 33 apparently he...

In chronic HCV infection, treatment failure and defective host immune response highly demand improved therapy strategies. Vγ9Vδ2 T-cells may inhibit HCV replication in vitro through IFN-γ release after Phosphoantigen (PhAg) stimulation. The aim of our work was to analyze Vγ9Vδ2 T-cell functionality during chronic HCV infection, studying the role of IFN-α on their function capability. IFN-γ prod...