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- Title
Soluble Serum CD81 Is Elevated in Patients with Chronic Hepatitis C and Correlates with Alanine Aminotransferase Serum Activity.
- Authors
Welker, Martin-Walter; Reichert, David; Susser, Simone; Sarrazin, Christoph; Martinez, Yolanda; Herrman, Eva; Zeuzem, Stefan; Piiper, Albrecht; Kronenberger, Bernd
- Abstract
Aim: Cellular CD81 is a well characterized hepatitis C virus (HCV) entry factor, while the relevance of soluble exosomal CD81 in HCV pathogenesis is poorly defined. We performed a case-control study to investigate whether soluble CD81 in the exosomal serum fraction is associated with HCV replication and inflammatory activity. Patients and Methods: Four cohorts were investigated, patients with chronic hepatitis C (n = 37), patients with chronic HCV infection and persistently normal ALT levels (n = 24), patients with long term sustained virologic response (SVR, n = 7), and healthy volunteers (n = 23). Concentration of soluble CD81 was assessed semi-quantitatively after differential centrifugation ranging from 200 g to 100,000 g in the fifth centrifugation fraction by immunoblotting and densitometry. Results: Soluble CD81 was increased in patients with chronic hepatitis C compared to healthy subjects (p = 0.03) and cured patients (p = 0.017). Patients with chronic HCV infection and persistently normal ALT levels and patients with long term SVR had similar soluble CD81 levels as healthy controls (p>0.2). Overall, soluble CD81 levels were associated with ALT levels (r = 0.334, p = 0.016) and severe liver fibrosis (p = 0.027). Conclusion: CD81 is increased in the exosomal serum fraction in patients with chronic hepatitis C and appears to be associated with inflammatory activity and severity of fibrosis.
- Subjects
BLOOD plasma; HEPATITIS C; LIVER diseases; ALANINE; MIMOSINE; CENTRIFUGATION; ANTIGEN analysis
- Publication
PLoS ONE, 2012, Vol 7, Issue 2, p1
- ISSN
1932-6203
- Publication type
Article
- DOI
10.1371/journal.pone.0030796