Th1 Cytokine Profiles in Hepatitis C Virus Infected Patients and Their Contribution to Inflammatory Responses

Background: Th1 cytokines are required for host antiviral immune responses. However little is known about the production and progression of cytokines in hepatitis C virus (HCV) infected patients. The aim of this study was to assess the serum levels of Th1 cytokines and also their association with inflammatory indicators in HCV-infected and normal individuals.Methods: Fifty four HCV-infected patients along with thirty one healthy controls were selected using the sequential sampling method. Serum levels of interleukine-2 (IL-2), interferon-gamma (IFN-γ) and tumor necrosis factor-alfa (TNF-α) was determined in all the precipitants by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). Moreover serum levels of alanine aminotransferase (ALT), aspartat aminotransferase (AST), alkaline phosphatase (ALP), C-reactive protein (CRP) and rheumatoid factor (RF) were also determined in both patient and control groups.Results: The results showed that serum levels of IFN-γ, TNF-α and IL-2 were higher in HCV-infected patients than controls group but the difference was significant only for TNF-α (p 0.05). A positive correlation was found between the serum level of TNF-α and IL-2 in patient group (p 0.05).Conclusion: TNF-α is the main mediator of the acute inflammatory responses to microbial infections and in our study serum level of TNF-α in HCV-infected patients was higher than healthy subjects. Positive correlation of serum TNF-α and IL-2 levels in HCV-infected patients may contribute to the role of innate immunity in stimulating the adaptive immune responses, thus suggests role of TNF-α in antibody production