UNSPECIFIED (1991) INTERFERON-ALPHA RECEPTOR EXPRESSION AND REGULATION IN CHRONIC HEPATITIS-B VIRUS-INFECTION. HEPATOLOGY, 13 (2). pp. 332-338. ISSN 0270-9139

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Abstract

Interferon-alpha elicits antiviral and immunoregulatory activities by binding to specific receptors on the cell surface. In this study, binding characteristics of interferon-alpha to peripheral blood mononuclear cells in patients with chronic hepatitis B virus infection were studied using radioiodinated recombinant interferon-alpha-2b to determine interferon-alpha receptor numbers and dissociation constants. A single class of interferon-alpha receptor was demonstrated on peripheral blood mononuclear cells and mononuclear subsets. Peripheral blood mononuclear cells from patients with chronic hepatitis B virus infection (n = 20) and controls (n = 16) expressed a similar number of interferon-alpha receptors (484 +/- 175 vs. 511 +/- 168 sites/cell respectively, p = NS) with a similar dissociation constant (dissociation constant almost-equal-to 0.2 to 0.7 nmol/L). Expression of interferon-alpha receptors was similar in monocyte-enriched and lymphocyte-enriched fractions in both groups. Similar changes were observed in patients receiving alpha-interferon therapy. there was no correlation between interferon-alpha receptors expression and serum transaminase, serum HBsAg, serum HBV DNA, liver histological findings or the response to interferon-alpha therapy. After incubation of lymphocytes in vitro with interferon-alpha-2b (10 to 1,000 U/ml), interferon-alpha receptors number dropped by 42% to 80%, but this was associated with an increase in binding affinity (dissociation constant almost-equal-to 0.05 to 0.15 nmol/L in both patients and controls. There was significant delay in the initial phase of receptor recovery in the patients with chronic hepatitis B virus infection compared with normal controls (days 1 and 2, p < 0.05). These data indicate that interferon-alpha receptors are expressed and regulated normally in chronic hepatitis B virus infection and that the variable response to interferon-alpha therapy is not due to a variation in interferon-alpha receptor. The increase in binding affinity on interferon-alpha therapy may be one factor explaining why long-term interferon-alpha therapy is effective despite a decrease in receptor number.

Item Type:	Journal Article
Subjects:	R Medicine > RC Internal medicine
Journal or Publication Title:	HEPATOLOGY
Publisher:	W B SAUNDERS CO
ISSN:	0270-9139
Date:	February 1991
Volume:	13
Number:	2
Number of Pages:	7
Page Range:	pp. 332-338
Publication Status:	Published
URI:	http://wrap.warwick.ac.uk/id/eprint/22824

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