Cytotoxic CD4-positive T cells in viral hepatitis
N Aslan, C Yurdaydin, J Wiegand, HL Tillmann, B Kuhlmann, T Kaiser, H Bozkaya, AM Bozdayi, MP Manns, H Wedemeyer · Zeitschrift für Gastroenterologie · 2004 · Heft 02
Bibliografische Angaben
Zusammenfassung
CD4-positive T cells have been shown to be of importance for the control of HBV and HCV infections. Their main function is to secrete cytokines and thereby to provide help to cytotoxic CD8-positive T cells. However, recently a high frequency of perforin-positive cytotoxic CD4+ T cells has been found in HIV-positive patients (J Immunol 2002;168: 5954–8). Thus, we investigated the frequency and function of cytotoxic CD4+ T cells in patients with viral hepatitis. 95 individuals were studied. 43 patients suffered from chronic HBV infection, 18 of those were co-infected with HDV. 29 patients had chronic hepatitis C a…
