PeproTech Inc.

This Article
Right arrow Full Text
Right arrow Full Text (PDF)
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in PubMed
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrow reprints & permissions
Citing Articles
Right arrow Citing Articles via HighWire
Right arrow Citing Articles via Google Scholar
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Nakamoto, Y.
Right arrow Articles by Kobayashi, K.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by Nakamoto, Y.
Right arrow Articles by Kobayashi, K.
(Journal of Leukocyte Biology. 2002;72:49-55.)
© 2002 by Society for Leukocyte Biology

Increased susceptibility to apoptosis and attenuated Bcl-2 expression in T lymphocytes and monocytes from patients with advanced chronic hepatitis C

Yasunari Nakamoto, Shuichi Kaneko and Kenichi Kobayashi

Department of Gastroenterology, Graduate School of Medicine, Kanazawa University, Japan

Correspondence: Shuichi Kaneko, M.D., Ph.D., Department of Gastroenterology, Graduate School of Medicine, Kanazawa University, 13-1 Takara-machi, Kanazawa 920-8641, Japan. E-mail: skaneko{at}medf.m.kanazawa-u.ac.jp

Some viral infections are reported to influence the susceptibility of peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) to apoptosis, which is related to disease progression. The current study was designed to monitor apoptosis in separated PBMC subsets, CD4+ and CD8+ T lymphocytes, and CD14+ monocytes under apoptotic stimuli in patients with chronic hepatitis C. Apoptosis was induced by serum starvation and by incubation with anti-CD3 antibody and with phorbol 12-myristate 13-acetate. With the escalating severity of liver disease, susceptibility of all PBMC subsets to apoptosis increased under the apoptotic stimulus of serum starvation (P<0.05). Consequently, increased susceptibility to apoptosis was associated with diminished intracellular expression of the antiapoptotic protein Bcl-2 (P<0.05). The current observations demonstrate that the abnormality of PBMC subsets in undergoing apoptosis as a result of the down-regulation of Bcl-2 expression may contribute to viral persistence and progression of liver disease in chronic hepatitis C.

Key Words: peripheral blood mononuclear cells • hepatitis C virus • serum starvation




This article has been cited by other articles:


Home page
 J. Leukoc. Biol.Home page
M. W. Cruise, H. M. Melief, J. Lukens, C. Soguero, and Y. S. Hahn
Increased Fas ligand expression of CD4+ T cells by HCV core induces T cell-dependent hepatic inflammation
J. Leukoc. Biol., August 1, 2005; 78(2): 412 - 425.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]