الفهرس 
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Abstract
T cell responses are critical for the clearance of viral infection. Following infection, antigen-presenting cells (APC) present viral antigens to T cells and, in the context of multiple cell-based and soluble factors, instruct virus-specific T cells to proliferate and acquire multiple antiviral and immune-stimulatory effector functions. Virus-specific CD8 T cells acquire the ability to lyse virally infected cells both directly through cell to cell killing and indirectly through the secretion of cytokines, including TNFα and IFNγ (Williams et al., 2007). Simultaneously, virus-specific CD4 T cells proliferate and produce immunostimulatory cytokines (such as IL-2) that help to orchestrate the direction of the immune response, sustain and program memory CD8 T cell differentiation, and provide help to B cells for antibody production. Following clearance of the infection, effector virus-specific CD4 and CD8 T cells contract and, through a complex differentiation program, generate a stable memory T cell population able to rapidly respond and clear future infections with the same or similar virus (Castellino et al., 2006)
Our study was conducted on 60 patients with chronic HCV infection and its aim was to find a correlation between laboratory results and level of CD4 and CD8 T-cell counts to see the role of T lymphocyte cells in the long term outcome of the disease.
Our study showed highly significant positive correlation between CD4 T-cell counts and (SGOT & SGPT) levels, also there was a highly significant positive correlation between CD8 T-cell count and bilirubin level and there was a negative correlatgion between CD4 T-cell count and CD8 T-cell count