IMPAIRED LIPOPOLYSACCHARIDE-INDUCED INTERLEUKIN-1-BETA PRODUCTION IN PATIENTS WITH ANTI-HEPATITIS-C VIRUS ANTIBODY-POSITIVE CHRONIC LIVER-DISEASE

The aim of our study was to determine the role of cytokine interleukin-l-beta (IL-l-beta) in patients with chronic hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection. Twenty-eight patients with chronic HCV infection were studied and compared with 18 healthy subjects. IL-l-beta levels were measured with an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay in plasma and in supernatants of peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) incubated alone or in the presence of lipopolysaccharide (LPS). No IL-l-beta was found in plasma or unstimulated PBMC supernatants. The mean LPS-induced IL-l-beta production was 20.0+/-4.0 ng/ml in patients with chronic HCV infection and 29.4+/-3.7 ng/ml in the control group. The patients had significantly lower levels of LPS-induced IL-l-beta than the control group (p<0.00001). No difference in LPS-induced IL-l-beta production was found in patients in relation to the histologic diagnosis (p>0.05). There was no correlation between LPS-induced IL-l-beta production and serum alanine aminotransferase levels in patients with chronic HCV infection (r=0.37, p>0.05). Although limited to a small number of cases, our results suggest that LPS-induced IL-l-beta production by PBMC is impaired in patients with chronic HCV infection.