Activated IL-23/IL-17 pathway closely correlates with increased Foxp3 expression in livers of chronic hepatitis B patients

BMC Immunology

Bing Ni²  Yuzhang Wu²  Qing Mao¹  Jijun Zhou¹  Yi Tian²  Zemin Huang²  Yanhua Zheng²  Qinghong Wang² 

[1] Department of Infectious Diseases, Southwestern Hospital, Third Military Medical University, Chongqing 400038, PR China;Institute of Immunology, PLA, Third Military Medical University, Chongqing 400038, PR China

关键词: Hepatitis B;    IL-17;    IL-23;    Th17;    Foxp3;    Treg;   

Others  :  1078018
DOI  :  10.1186/1471-2172-12-25

 received in 2010-11-05, accepted in 2011-04-14,  发布年份 2011

【 摘 要 】

Background

Foxp3 protein plays a critical role in mediating the inflammatory response and can inhibit the proinflammatory IL-23/IL-17 pathway. However, the molecular interplay of Foxp3 and the IL-23/IL-17 pathway in patients with chronic hepatitis B (CHB) remains unclear. To this end, we analyzed the expression patterns of Foxp3- and IL-23/IL-17 pathway-related proinflammatory cytokines in 39 patients with acute-on-chronic liver failure, 71 patients with CHB and 32 healthy controls.

Results

Foxp3 expression was found to be elevated in and mainly expressed by the CD4⁺ T cell sub-population of peripheral blood mononuclear cells and liver tissues of patients with hepatitis B. The intrahepatic expression of Foxp3 strongly correlated with the copies of HBV DNA and the concentration of surface antigen, HBsAg. IL-23/IL-17 pathway-related proinflammatory cytokines were also found to be significantly increased in patients' liver tissues, as compared to healthy controls. Moreover, Foxp3 expression was strikingly correlated with the production of these cytokines in liver tissues of CHB patients.

Conclusions

The closely-correlated increase of Foxp3 and IL-23/IL-17 pathway activity in HBV-infected livers suggests that the proinflammatory IL-23/IL-17 pathway had not been effectively suppressed by the host immune machinery, such as Treg (Foxp3) cells. Constitutive activation of the IL-23/17 pathway, thus, may support the chronic hepatitis B state.

【 授权许可】

   
2011 Wang et al; licensee BioMed Central Ltd.

【 图 表 】

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