Is T-cell death in the liver exploited by hepatitis C virus?
Several reports suggest that weaker and short-lived CTL responses were observed in chronic hepatitis patients during the acute phase of infection, in contrast to strong multispecific CTL responses in individuals who cleared the HCV infection. This suggests that a factor(s) determining the magnitude of the CTL response is important in HCV persistence.83, 84, 85 The magnitude of the CTL response to HCV could be influenced by intrahepatic proliferation and/or apoptosis of CD8+ T cells. According to Bertolino and colleagues, naive CD8+ T cells undergo primary activation in the liver, leading to their apoptosis. Therefore, during HCV infection viral specific CD8+ T cells might be generated, but induced to undergo local apoptosis. While HCV could either compromise CTL generation or enhance CTL death in the liver, in this review we focus on the role of HCV in the apoptosis of CTL.
