Impaired CD4+ T cell stimulation of NK cell anti-fibrotic activity may contribute to accelerated liver fibrosis progression in HIV/HCV patients
Impaired CD4+ T cell stimulation of NK cell anti-fibrotic activity may contribute to accelerated liver fibrosis progression in HIV/HCV patients
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DOI:
10.1016/j.jhep.2013.04.029
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发表时间:
2013-09-01
影响因子:
25.7
通讯作者:
Nattermann, Jacob
中科院分区:
文献类型:
--
作者:
Glaessner, Andreas;Eisenhardt, Marianne;Nattermann, Jacob
Background & Aims: HIV/HCV co-infection is characterized by a faster progression to liver fibrosis compared to HCV mono-infection. Epidemiologic studies found an association between low CD4(+) T cell counts and advanced stages of liver fibrosis. However, the mechanisms underlying this association remain unclear.CD4(+) T cells critically modulate NK cell activity. Of note, NK cells have been shown to display anti-fibrotic activity via killing of activated hepatic stellate cells (HSC). Thus, we speculated that CD4(+) T cells might modulate fibrosis progression by interacting with NK cells.Methods: NK cells from HCV(+) (n = 35), HIV(+)/HCV(+) (n = 28), HIV(+) (n = 8) patients, and healthy controls (n = 30) were used in this study. NK cells were cultured in the presence or absence of supernatants from CD3/CD28-stimulated CD4(+) cells. Then, NK cells were co-incubated with activated HSC and studied for degranulation, IFN-gamma secretion, and induction of HSC apoptosis.Results: Following incubation with CD4(+) T cell supernatants, NK cells displayed a significantly increased activity against primary HSC as compared to unstimulated NK cells. This effect was, at least in part, mediated via an IL-2 dependent upregulation of NKG2D expression. HCV/HIV co-infection was associated with an impaired IL-2 secretion of CD4(+) T cells resulting in an ineffective stimulation of anti-fibrotic NK cell function.Conclusions: Here, we show that CD4(+) T cells are able to stimulate anti-fibrotic NK cell activity via IL-2 mediated upregulation of NKG2D. HIV-induced loss of CD4(+) T cells together with an impaired activity of CD4+ T cells may contribute to accelerate progression of liver fibrosis observed in co-infection. (c) 2013 European Association for the Study of the Liver. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.