HCV-specific cytokine induction in monocytes of patients with different outcomes of hepatitis C

Table 1 CD14⁺ monocytes with detectable intracellular cytokine expression

	Chronic hepatitis C (n = 23)		Aviremic anti-HCV seropositives (n = 14)		Controls (n = 11)
	% CD14+monocytes	§ Significance	% CD14+monocytes	§ Significance	% CD14+monocytes	§ Significance
IL-1β
Spontaneous expression	13.6 [0.3-82.1]	a, b	1.9 [0.4-65.5]		2.1 [0.6-4.7]
Expression after stimulation with
Core	21.5 [0.9-84.8]	a, b, c	3.1 [0.1-69.6]	c	2.8 [0.6-8.3]
NS3	42.0 [1.1-91.1]	a, b, c	7.0 [0.6-71.8]	c	6.1 [1.6-31.6]	c
NS4	28.3 [0.4-82.4]	a, b, c	4.6 [0.2-81.8]		6.2 [1.6-15.5]	c
NS5a	34.3 [0.4-87.2]	a, b, c	3.3 [0.1-77.8]	c	8.3 [1.7-14.5]	c
NS5b	27.6 [1.7-89.9]	a, b, c	6.2 [0.8-75.3]	c	4.8 [0.8-30.3]
LPS	55.5 [7.6-96.5]	b	36.2 [4.0-97.0]		24.1 [9.4-48.7]
IL-10
Spontaneous expression	1.4 [0.2-8.6]	a, b	0.4 [0.1-6.1]		0.7 [0.1-1.3]
Expression after stimulation with
Core	2.6 [0.3-24.4]	a, b, c	0.6 [0.1-8.3]	c	1.0 [0.2-1.8]
NS3	2.4 [0.2-20.2]	a, b, c	0.8 [0.2-9.8]	c	0.8 [0.2-2.3]	c
NS4	2.0 [0.2-18.8]	a, b, c	0.5 [0.0-7.7]		0.9 [0.2-2.1]	c
NS5a	2.0 [0.2-16.9]	a, b, c	0.7 [0.1-7.9]	c	1.0 [0.1-3.2]	c
NS5b	3.7 [0.1-22.4]	a, b, c	0.7 [0.1-12.6]	c	0.7 [0.2-5.4]
LPS	12.4 [0.2-39.8]		6.4 [0.3-25.0]		6.0 [0.5-19.1]
IL-12
Spontaneous expression	0.8 [0.2-5.1]		0.5 [0.2-3.1]		0.6 [0.1-2.3]
Expression after stimulation with
Core	2.0 [0.2-8.1]	a	0.7 [0.1-3.1]		1.1 [0.3-3.2]
NS3	1.8 [0.5-16.3]	c	1.1 [0.2-5.3]	c	1.6 [0.2-12.2]	c
NS4	1.0 [0.3-6.1]	c	0.8 [0.8-4.5]		4.5 [0.3-5.2]	c
NS5a	1.5 [0.3-9.1]	c	0.8 [0.1-3.7]	c	1.5 [0.2-3.7]	c
NS5b	2.2 [0.3-40.1]	b, c	1.0 [0.3-5.2]	c	0.9 [0.2-6.1]
LPS	18.7 [0.7-61.8]		6.2 [0-12.7]		11.8 [2.4-33.5]
TNF-α
Spontaneous expression	3.2 [0.1-39.5]		0.8 [0.2-12.0]		1.3 [0.4-3.4]
Expression after stimulation with
Core	6.9 [0.3-51.3]	b, c	1.5 [0.1-12.8]	c	1.7 [0.3-6.1]	c
NS3	5.4 [0.2-40.7]		2.9 [0.4-16.4]	c	3.7 [0.9-23.3]	c
NS4	3.1 [0.2-21.9]		2.7 [0.1-17.7]	c	2.9 [1.1-14.6]	c
NS5a	4.30 [0.1-22.7]		1.8 [0.2-11.1]	c	4.0 [1.3-8.3]	c
NS5b	10.9 [0.7-53.8]	a, b, c	2.3 [0.4-23.2]	c	2.0 [0.9-9.6]	c
LPS	35.0 [1.50-91.2]		21.3 [1.5-51.4]		31.5 [12.1-47.9]

§ Significances: a = P < 0.05 Chronic HCV infection vs. aviremic anti-HCV seropositives (Kruskal-Wallis test and Mann-Whitney U test) b = P < 0.05 Chronic HCV infection vs. Controls (Kruskal-Wallis test and Mann-Whitney U test) c = P < 0.05 Stimulated vs. spontaneous cytokine expression (Wilcoxon signed rank test) Data are given as median + range.