Peripheral blood monocyte subsets predict antiviral response in chronic hepatitis C

Abstract

SUMMARY BackgroundHepatitis C virus infection evolves into chronic progressive liver disease in a significant percentage of patients. Monocytes constitute a diverse group of myeloid cells that mediate innate and adaptive immune response. In addition to proinflammatory CD16+ monocytes, a Tie-2+ subgroup -Tie-2 expressing monocytes (TEMs) -that has robust proangiogenic potential has been recently defined.

Monocyte Subsets Are Differentially Lost from the Circulation during Acute Inflammation Induced by Human Experimental Endotoxemia

“…During inflammatory conditions, such as sepsis [6,7] , bacterial [8] or viral [9][10][11] infections and a wide range of inflammatory diseases (reviewed by [1] ), the frequency of IM or both IM and NCM is increased. However, as patients with inflammation cannot be identified before displaying clinical symptoms, little is known about the monocyte subsets during the earliest stages of inflammation.…”

TIE2-expressing monocytes: A novel cellular biomarker for hepatocellular carcinoma?

“…According to Matsubara et al,3 high circulating and intratumoral TEM levels correlate with a more‐advanced Child‐Pugh stage, a finding that may suggest that TEM frequency correlates positively with the degree of liver inflammation/stage of cirrhosis and negatively with liver function. In this regard—and contrary to the findings of Matsubara et al 3 — a recent study showed that circulating and intrahepatic TEMs are significantly increased in HCV‐infected patients without HCC, compared to healthy subjects 18. In that study, HCV patients who responded to antiviral therapy had significantly lower TEM levels than naïve (untreated) or nonresponder patients 18.…”

“…These interesting findings suggest that chronic liver inflammation may be a stimulus for TEM mobilization from the BM, their differentiation/expansion in the periphery, and/or the up‐regulation of TIE2 in nonclassical monocytes. Although Rodriguez‐Munoz et al18 analyzed a relatively small cohort of HCV‐infected patients, their data raise the concern that mobilization/expansion of TEMs may not be strictly HCC driven, but more generally associated with chronic liver infection.…”

Preliminary evidence of sustained expression of angiopoietin‐2 during monocyte differentiation in chronic hepatitis C

“…The proportion of Tie2‐expressing monocytes rose in the peripheral blood of CHC patients compared with healthy donors ( P < 0.05), as previously described . However, such differences were not observed in MDMs or MDDCs from controls versus CHC patients (Table , Figure A and B).…”