We previously performed analysis of the B cell response in HCV-infected patients with and without mixed cryoglobulinemia (MC), and the impact of rituximab treatment on B cell function in these patients. Despite activation and clonal expansion of B-cells in chronic HCV infection we had observed a reduction in the total number of B cells and in the size of the naive B cell subset in patients with MC compared to HCV-infected patients without MC and healthy controls. The reduced frequency of naive B cells in HCV-infected patients with MC was associated with decreased ex vivo expression of the antiapoptotic protein Bcl-2 compared to HCV-infected patients without MC and healthy controls, and with an increased in vitro sensitivity of naive B-cells to apoptosis. These results suggested that the increased size of the immature B-cell subset was due to a secondary egress from the bone marrow to compensate for the B-cell loss in the periphery. Based on this previous work and the published literature we published a letter to the editor, Hepatology.
| Holz, Lauren E; Yoon, Joo Chun; Raghuraman, Sukanya et al. (2013) Reply: b-cell frequency in HCV-related mixed cryoglobulinemia. Hepatology 58:448-9 |
| Holz, Lauren E; Yoon, Joo Chun; Raghuraman, Sukanya et al. (2012) B cell homeostasis in chronic hepatitis C virus-related mixed cryoglobulinemia is maintained through naive B cell apoptosis. Hepatology 56:1602-10 |
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| Rehermann, Barbara (2009) Hepatitis C virus versus innate and adaptive immune responses: a tale of coevolution and coexistence. J Clin Invest 119:1745-54 |
| Mix, Heiko; Weiler-Normann, Christina; Thimme, Robert et al. (2008) Identification of CD4 T-cell epitopes in soluble liver antigen/liver pancreas autoantigen in autoimmune hepatitis. Gastroenterology 135:2107-18 |
