[Intrahepatic and peripheral blood lymphocytes during hepatitis C]

The pathogenesis of liver cell injury during chronic hepatitis C is poorly understood and cellular immune response is thought to play a key role in both inhibition of viral replication and liver pathology. We investigated a panel of markers of intrahepatic T-lymphocyte subsets in 44 hepatitis C virus (HCV)-infected patients.

The assessment of subsets of intrahepatic lymphocytes and peripheral blood lymphocytes was done using flow cytometry and immunohistochemical study.

The proportion of CD4 and CD8 cells were similar in both compartments. A significantly larger percentage of NK cells was observed in intrahepatic infiltrates compared to peripheral blood lymphocytes (14,5+/-8,1 vs 10,5+/-7,1; p<0,01). No statistical correlation was found between lymphocytes parentage and age, sex, transaminase activities and viremia. Linear regression indicated the positive correlation between the percentage of CD8 and histological activity (r= 0.46, p=0,00 ) and NK cells and histological activity (r-0.44, p=0,003). There was not such a correlation between subsets of peripheral blood lymphocytes and histological activities.