Natural Killer Cell Subsets Distribution in Spontaneously Resolved and ChronicPersistent Hepatitis C Virus Infection

Altered frequency and distribution of natural killer cell subsets have been reported in hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection.We investigated the frequency of NK cells and inhibitory receptor CD158 in a sample of Egyptian patients with spontaneously resolved (SR) and chronic persistent hepatitis C virus (CPHC) infection, and correlated data with other clinical and diagnostic parameters. The study was conducted on 48 patients divided into 3 groups. Group I; 16 CPHC patients, Group II; 16 SR individuals and Group III; 16 healthy controls. Chronic persistent HCV patients and SR individual’s data were reported from patients ' reports. Healthy controls serum antibodies against HCV were measured using ELISA technique. The three studied groups fresh peripheral blood samples were analyzed by flow cytometry to determine total NK cells, their subsets and CD158b+ cells percentages. Total NK cells and CD56+dim CD16+ NK cells were significantly decreased in CPHC patients and SR individuals in comparison to healthy controls(P 0.05).