View : 959 Download: 0
Natural killer cells in hepatitis C: Current progress
- Title
- Natural killer cells in hepatitis C: Current progress
- Authors
- Yoon, Joo Chun; Yang, Chang Mo; Song, Youkyong; Lee, Jae Myun
- Ewha Authors
- 윤주천
- SCOPUS Author ID
- 윤주천
- Issue Date
- 2016
- Journal Title
- WORLD JOURNAL OF GASTROENTEROLOGY
- ISSN
- 1007-9327
2219-2840
- Citation
- WORLD JOURNAL OF GASTROENTEROLOGY vol. 22, no. 4, pp. 1449 - 1460
- Keywords
- Hepatitis C virus; Natural killer cell; Accessory cell; Virus-host interaction; Immune evasion; Acute hepatitis; Chronic hepatitis; Treatment response
- Publisher
- BAISHIDENG PUBLISHING GROUP INC
- Indexed
- SCIE; SCOPUS
- Document Type
- Article
- 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-a-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.
- DOI
- 10.3748/wjg.v22.i4.1449
- Appears in Collections:
- 의과대학 > 의학과 > Journal papers
- Files in This Item:
There are no files associated with this item.
- Export
- RIS (EndNote)
- XLS (Excel)
- XML