Affiliations: Department of Infectious Diseases and Child Neurology,
University of Medical Sciences, Poznań, Poland | Department of Clinical Immunology, University of
Medical Sciences, Poznań, Poland
Note: [] Correspondence: Iwona Mozer-Lisewska, MD, Department of
Infectious Diseases and Child Neurology, University of Medical Sciences, ul
Szpitalna 27/33, 60-572 Poznań, Poland. Tel.: +48 61 8491 318; E-mail:
iwonalisewska@poczta.onet.pl
Abstract: The aim of this study was to investigate the impact interferon type
I based anti-viral therapy on the immune system of chronically infected
children with hepatitis C and B virus. Peripheral blood mononuclear cells were
examined by three-color flow cytometry, using a panel of fluorochrome labeled
monoclonal antibodies. It was found that the majority of white blood cell
subsets were decreased in patients after termination of long-term anti-viral
treatment. In particular, potentially cytotoxic, effector cell subsets, such as
natural killer, natural killer T-lymphocytes and
CD8^{+}CD28^{-} T cells were
significantly decreased. Moreover, plasmacytoid dendritic cells were decreased,
both in percentage and in absolute values. These data suggest that
interferon-α based treatment, apart from its
anti-viral effect, has also remarkable impact on patient's cell-mediated
immunity.
Keywords: Cell immunophenotype, viral hepatitis, children
