Ravens, Sarina Hengst, Julia Schlapphoff, Verena Deterding, Katja Dhingra, Akshay Schultze-Florey, Christian Koenecke, Christian Cornberg, Markus Wedemeyer, Heiner Prinz, Immo Image_2.PDF <p>Human γδ T cells can contribute to clearance of hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection but also mediate liver inflammation. This study aimed to understand the clonal distribution of γδ T cells in peripheral blood of chronic HCV patients and following HCV clearance by interferon-free direct-acting antiviral drug therapies. To this end, γδ T cell receptor (TCR) repertoires were monitored by mRNA-based next-generation sequencing. While the percentage of Vγ9<sup>+</sup> T cells was higher in patients with elevated liver enzymes and a few expanded Vδ3 clones could be identified in peripheral blood of 23 HCV-infected non-cirrhotic patients, overall clonality and complexity of γδ TCR repertoires were largely comparable to those of matched healthy donors. Monitoring eight chronic HCV patients before, during and up to 1 year after therapy revealed that direct-acting antiviral (DAA) drug therapies induced only minor alterations of TRG and TRD repertoires of Vγ9<sup>+</sup> and Vγ9<sup>−</sup> cells. Together, we show that peripheral γδ TCR repertoires display a high stability (1) by chronic HCV infection in the absence of liver cirrhosis and (2) by HCV clearance in the course of DAA drug therapy.</p> γδ T cells;chronic hepatitis C virus;TRG;TRD;next-generation sequencing;direct-acting antivirals 2018-03-16
    https://frontiersin.figshare.com/articles/figure/Image_2_PDF/5991358
10.3389/fimmu.2018.00510.s002