CD30 INDUCTION AND CYTOKINE PROFILES IN HEPATITIS-C VIRUS CORE-SPECIFIC PERIPHERAL-BLOOD T-LYMPHOCYTES

Since an efficient control of virus infections may depend on the appro priate lymphokine profile, we studied cytokine responses and CD30 indu ction, a recently proposed surrogate marker of type 2 cells, in 10 hea lthy anti-hepatitis C virus (HCV)-seropositive blood donors without vi remia (group A) and in 15 patients with hepatitis C (group B), Intracy toplasmic IFN-gamma, IL-2, IL-4, and IL-10 were determined by triple-c olor flow cytometry in the CD3(+) and CD3(+)/CD30(+) lymphocyte subset s after stimulation of PBMC with rHCV core protein and five core-deriv ed peptides corresponding to the four immunodominant Th epitopes C.T1 to C.T4. In group A, more type 1 cytokines were induced by the rHCV co re protein and all immunodominant core peptides(p < 0.05), whereas IL- 10-producing T cells were found more frequently in group 0, Induction of CD30(+) T cells was found almost exclusively in group B (p < 0.01), The difference in cytokine responses was due to the CD3(+)/CD30(-) T cell subset and not the CD3(+)/CD30(+) subset, which predominantly pro duced both IL-10 and IFN-gamma, but only small amounts of IL-2 and IL- 4, We conclude that immunodominant HCV core peptides induce preferenti ally type 1 cytokines in healthy anti-HCV-positive blood donors and CD 30 expression in patients with chronic hepatitis C, However, in both g roups, CD30(+) T lymphocytes produce an intermediate Th0-like cytokine profile, Thus, chronicity in HCV infection may reflect a lack of type 1 cytokine production.