Evaluation of Interleukin-10 Levels in Patients Diagnosed with Chronic Hepatitis.

OBJECTIVE: One of the most important factors playing a role in chronic hepatitis B pathogenesis is cytokine release and one of the cytokines with anti-inflammatory characteristic is interleukin-10 (IL-10). The aim of the present study is to examine IL-10 levels in patients with chronic hepatitis B. SUBJECTS AND METHODS: Sixty-three patients with chronic hepatitis B disease who had not received any antiviral treatment were included in the study. Serum IL-10 level was investigated by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) method. In the control group, 25 healthy individuals with mean age similar to the patient population were included. Control and patient groups were compared and data were statistically analysed. RESULTS: Interleukin-10 levels of 25 patients with hepatitis B virus (HBV) DNA levels between 2000 and 20 000 IU/mL were compared with those of 25 subjects in the control group, and the level in the chronic hepatitis B group was statistically significantly higher (p < 0.05). Interleukin-10 levels of 38 patients with HBV DNA > 20 000 IU/mL were statistically significantly higher than those in the control group. When chronic hepatitis B patients were compared among themselves, IL-10 levels increased as HBV DNA levels increased. Also, when IL-10 levels of hepatitis B 'e' antigen (HBeAg) positive patients were compared with those of HBeAg negative patients, the difference was not statistically significant. CONCLUSION: It is believed that decreasing IL-10 levels by various methods would have significant contributions in disease progression and treatment. Moreover, IL-10 level may be an important marker in HBeAg seroconversion and evaluation of treatment response.

Investigation of T cell receptors in the peripheral blood of patients with active pulmonary tuberculosis.

T cells have the capability of recognizing target cells through their T cell receptors (TCRs). Thus, the percentages of CD3+/gamma-delta (gammadelta) TCR+ and CD3+/alpha-beta (alphabeta) TCR+ T lymphocytes were investigated in active and inactive pulmonary tuberculosis (PT) patients and in healthy individuals. CD3+ and CD3+/alphabeta TCR+ cell percentages were significantly lower in all PT patients than in healthy subjects. Percentages of CD3+/gammadelta and CD3+/alphabeta TCR+ were not statistically different between active and inactive PT patients. It was concluded that alphabeta TCR+ T cells might have a protective role in tuberculosis infection.

Gamma/delta T cells in patients with acute brucellosis.

We aimed to investigate the population of gamma/delta T (gamma/delta T) cells in patients with acute brucellosis. When the bacteria penetrate to the host, the innate immune response aims to prevent the attack by non-activated professional phagocytes. At that moment, macrophages trigger the other cells of the immune system. The cells that can respond immediately are natural killer and gamma/delta T cells. The study included 40 cases of acute brucellosis and 20 healthy volunteers. In this study, it was aimed to compare gamma/delta and alpha/beta (alpha/beta) receptors of the T cells at pre- and post treatment period of patients diagnosed as brucellosis, especially to evaluate the levels of gamma/delta T cells at monitoring of the disease, using flow cytometry. As a result, it was observed that gamma/delta T cells significantly increased in peripheral blood in patients with brucellosis compared with the healthy individuals (13.23 +/- 4.7 and 5.25 +/- 1.4, respectively (p = 0.0001)). gamma/delta T cells were significantly decreased after the brucellosis treatment (p < 0.01). The results of the present study indicate that considerable counts of gamma/delta T cells are involved in acute brucellosis cases. Our findings suggest that gamma/delta TCR bearing cell counts may be used as a supplementary marker for monitoring brucellosis.