Effects of estradiol and progesterone on the proinflammatory cytokine production by mononuclear cells from patients with chronic hepatitis C

Table 3 Effects of E2 and progesterone on spontaneous production of TNF-α, IL-1β, IL-8, and MCP-1 by unstimulated PBMCs from age-matched older male and post-menopausal female patients with chronic hepatitis C (% of initial value)

Chronic hepatitis C subjects	TNF-α	IL-1β	IL-8	MCP-1
Older male patients
None	123 ± 14	120 ± 16	119 ± 12	114 ± 15
+ E2	82 ± 10a	84 ± 10a	80 ± 11a	78 ± 11a
+ E2 + ICI	118 ± 16	114 ± 18	108 ± 19	99 ± 19
+ Progesterone	167 ± 19a	169 ± 20a	159 ± 18a	169 ± 28a
+ Progesterone + RU	129 ± 21	124 ± 21	132 ± 19	122 ± 24
Post-menopausal female patients
None	118 ± 15	119 ± 14	122 ± 16	110 ± 13
+ E2	83 ± 11a	79 ± 9a	81 ± 12a	74 ± 11a
+ E2 + ICI	108 ± 14	122 ± 16	117 ± 19	104 ± 19
+ Progesterone	167 ± 13a	170 ± 24a	159 ± 20a	175 ± 30a
+ Progesterone + RU	130 ± 27	125 ± 28	132 ± 30	123 ± 25

The unstimulated PBMCs from the age-matched older male and post-menopausal female patients with chronic hepatitis C were cultured for another 6 h with and without 10^-8 mol/L E2 (E2) or 10^-7 mol/L progesterone (progesterone) in the presence and absence of 10^-6 mol/L ICI (ICI) or 10^-6 mol/L RU (RU). The levels of TNF-α, IL-1β, IL-8, and MCP-1 in the culture supernatant were detected by means of an ELISA. The results were expressed as the percentages of each initial value for the cytokine production in the absence of the female sex hormones and receptor antagonists. The values are the mean ± SD (n = 18).

^aP < 0.05 vs 6-h-cultures in the absence of the female sex hormones and receptor antagonists.