Hepatic Necroinflammatory Activity in Chronic Hepatitis C: A Positive Relation with Interleukin-12 P70 Production.

¹Ferial El-Kalla, ²Hala Nosseir, ³Eman Labah, ³Eman Essa, ³Mohamed Zakaria, ⁴Enjy Ibrahim and ⁴Tarek Ahmad.

Departments of ¹Tropical Medicine, ²Pathology, ³Microbiology and ⁴Internal Medicine Tanta University Hospital.

Interleukin (IL) -12 plays an essential role in host defense against infectious diseases. Serum IL-12 p70 concentration and blood mononuclear cell production (with specific interferon (IFN)-g priming) were investigated in 30 patients with chronic hepatitis C virus infection and 12 healthy individuals. HCV patients had higher serum IL-12 levels (P< 0.001) and produced higher amounts after IFN-g priming (P<0.001) than controls. Patients with severe liver necroinflammatory activity produced more IL-12 than patients with moderate or mild activity and controls (P<0.001). From these results, we conclude that while IL-12 is known to be involved in the development of cellular responses determining viral clearance from the infected cells, it may also play a role in the immuno-pathogenesis and severity of liver necrosis in chronic hepatitis C virus infection, as a proinflammatory cytokine.