Cytotoxic T lymphocytes derived from patients with chronic hepatitis C virus infection kill bystander cells via Fas-FasL interaction |
| |
Authors: | Gremion Christel Grabscheid Benno Wölk Benno Moradpour Darius Reichen Jürg Pichler Werner Cerny Andreas |
| |
Affiliation: | Clinic for Rheumatology and Clinical Immunology/Allergology, University of Bern, CH-3010 Bern, Switzerland. |
| |
Abstract: | The role of Fas-mediated lysis of hepatocytes in hepatitis C virus (HCV)-induced injury is frequently discussed. We therefore analyzed the effect of the number of HCV antigen-expressing cells, the mode of antigen presentation, and the number of cytotoxic T lymphocytes in a coculture system mimicking cellular components of the liver. Here, we show that endogenously processed HCV proteins are capable of inducing bystander killing. We further demonstrate that 0.8 to 1.5% of cells presenting HCV antigens suffice to induce lysis of 10 to 29% of bystander cells, suggesting that the mechanism may be operative at low fractions of infected versus uninfected hepatocytes in vivo. Our data underscore the role of the Fas pathway in HCV-related liver injury and support the exploration of Fas-based treatment strategies for patients with chronic hepatitis C virus infection. |
| |
Keywords: | |
本文献已被 PubMed 等数据库收录! |
|