TY  - JOUR
A1  - Rau, Monika
A1  - Schmitt, Johannes
A1  - Berg, Thomas
A1  - Kremer, Andreas E.
A1  - Stieger, Bruno
A1  - Spanaus, Katharina
A1  - Bengsch, Bertram
A1  - Romero, Marta R.
A1  - Marin, Jose J.
A1  - Keitel, Verena
A1  - Klinker, Hartwig
A1  - Tony, Hans-Peter
A1  - Müllhaupt, Beat
A1  - Geier, Andreas
T1  - Serum IP-10 levels and increased DPPIV activity are linked to circulating CXCR3+ T cells in cholestatic HCV patients
JF  - PLoS ONE
N2  - Background & aims
Serum interferon-gamma-inducible protein-10 (IP-10) is elevated in cholestatic liver diseases and predicts response to antiviral therapy in patients with chronic hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection. Dipeptidylpeptidase 4 (DPPIV) cleaves active IP-10 into an inactive form, which inhibits recruitment of CXCR3+ T cells to the liver. In this study the link between IP-10 levels, DPPIV activity in serum and CXCR3+ T cells is analysed in cholestatic and non-cholestatic liver patients.

Methods
In serum DPPIV activity (by enzymatic assay), IP-10 (by ELISA) and bile acids (BA) (by enzymatic assay) were analysed in 229 naive HCV genotype (GT) 1 patients and in 16 patients with cholestatic liver disease. In a prospective follow-up (FU) cohort of 27 HCV GT 1 patients peripheral CD3+CXCR3+, CD4+CXCR3+ and CD8+CXCR3+ cells were measured by FACS.

Results
In 229 HCV patients serum IP-10 levels correlated positively to DPPIV serum activity. Higher IP-10 levels and DPPIV activity were detected in cholestatic and in cirrhotic HCV patients. Increased IP-10 serum levels were associated with therapeutic non-response to antiviral treatment with pegylated-interferon and ribavirin. In the HCV FU cohort elevated IP-10 serum levels and increased BA were associated with higher frequencies of peripheral CD3+CXCR3+, CD4+CXCR3+ and CD8+CXCR3+ T cells. Positive correlation between serum IP-10 levels and DPPIV activity was likewise validated in patients with cholestatic liver diseases.

Conclusions
A strong correlation between elevated serum levels of IP-10 and DPPIV activity was seen in different cholestatic patient groups. Furthermore, in cholestatic HCV patients a functional link to increased numbers of peripheral CXCR3+ immune cells could be observed. The source of DPPIV release in cholestatic patients remains open.
KW  - hepatitis C virus
KW  - T cells
KW  - liver diseases
KW  - chemokines
KW  - cytotoxic T cells
KW  - immune cells
KW  - cirrhosis
KW  - bile
Y1  - 2018
U6  - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-177674
VL  - 13
IS  - 12
ER  -