الفهرس | Only 14 pages are availabe for public view |
Abstract Epstein Barr Virus (EBV) is a member of the herpes virus family infects at least 90% of the world’s population and can persist in a latent form after primary infection. Reactivation can occur years later, particularly under conditions of immunosuppression. In immunosuppressed patients, EBV reactivation and re-infection are associated with high seroprevalence levels in the serum, and EBV-DNA can also sometimes be detected in critically ill patients. The present study has been designed to investigate the co-infection of Epstein-Barr Virus (EBV) in sera samples from patients positive and negative for HCV infection using serological and molecular detection techniques to study the role of EBV in the pathogenesis of HCV infections and also investigate the cellular and humoral immune response to EBV infection in HCV patients through estimation of: - The percentage of CD+4, CD+3 and CD+19 lymphocytes. - The cytokine production levels. All these parameters will undergo comparison between infected and non-infected people. The study included three subjects: (1) Seventy nine chronic HCV patients (cases with positive HCV-RNA). This group included 25 cases with latent EBV infection (cases with positive EBV-IgG antibodies), 20 cases with reactivated EBV infection (cases with positive EBV-IgG and DNA) and 3 cases with primary EBV infection (cases with positive EBV-IgM and DNA). (2) Thirty six cases with positive HCV-IgG and negative HCV-RNA (negative control group). This group included 17 cases with latent EBV infection (cases with positive EBV-IgG antibodies), 2 cases with reactivated EBV infection (cases with positive EBV-IgG and DNA) and 2 cases with primary EBV infection (cases with positive EBV-IgM and DNA). (3) Fifty two cases without HCV infection (normal control group). This group included 15 cases with latent EBV infection (cases with positive EBV-IgG antibodies), 3 cases with reactivated EBV infection (cases with positive EBV-IgG and DNA) and 1 case with primary EBV infection (cases with positive EBV-IgM and DNA). The prevalence of latent EBV infection in HCV patients was higher than that of reactivated EBV infection than primary EBV infection, as with other herpes viruses. Latency follows all primary infections and is considered to be lifelong. Latent infection is the most prevalent EBV infection in the general population at any given time. Serum activity levels of ALT and AST showed a highly significant (p<0.01) elevation in HCV/EBV cases, HCV cases and EBV cases than healthy individuals. The percentage of CD3+ cells showed a significant (p<0.05) decrease in HCV/EBV, HCV, EBV patients when compared with healthy cases. These results indicate that a defective cellular innate immune response in those patients. CD4+ cells percentage showed a highly significant (p<0.01) reduction in HCV/EBV, HCV, EBV cases when compared with healthy individuals. CD19+ cells percentage showed a significant (p<0.05) reduction in HCV/EBV, HCV, and EBV cases than healthy cases. |