Natural killer cells in hepatitis C: Current progress

Joo Chun Yoon, Chang Mo Yang, Youkyong Song, Jae Myun Lee

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

38 Scopus citations

Abstract

Patients infected with the hepatitis C virus (HCV) are characterized by a high incidence of chronic infection, which results in chronic hepatitis, liver cirrhosis, and hepatocellular carcinoma. The functional impairment of HCV-specific T cells is associated with the evolution of an acute infection to chronic hepatitis. While T cells are the important effector cells in adaptive immunity, natural killer (NK) cells are the critical effector cells in innate immunity to virus infections. The findings of recent studies on NK cells in hepatitis C suggest that NK cell responses are indeed important in each phase of HCV infection. In the early phase, NK cells are involved in protective immunity to HCV. The immune evasion strategies used by HCV may target NK cells and might contribute to the progression to chronic hepatitis C. NK cells may control HCV replication and modulate hepatic fibrosis in the chronic phase. Further investigations are, however, needed, because a considerable number of studies observed functional impairment of NK cells in chronic HCV infection. Interestingly, the enhanced NK cell responses during interferon-α-based therapy of chronic hepatitis C indicate successful treatment. In spite of the advances in research on NK cells in hepatitis C, establishment of more physiological HCV infection model systems is needed to settle unsolved controversies over the role and functional status of NK cells in HCV infection.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)1449-1460
Number of pages12
JournalWorld Journal of Gastroenterology
Volume22
Issue number4
DOIs
StatePublished - 28 Jan 2016

Bibliographical note

Funding Information:
Supported by Basic Science Research Program through the National Research Foundation of Korea funded by the Ministry of Science; ICT & Future Planning, No. 2007-0056092, No. 2012R1A1A1012207 and No. 2010-0027945.

Publisher Copyright:
© The Author(s) 2016. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.

Keywords

  • Accessory cell
  • Acute hepatitis
  • Chronic hepatitis
  • Hepatitis C virus
  • Immune evasion
  • Natural killer cell
  • Treatment response
  • Virus-host interaction

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