Hepatic expansion of virus-specific regulatory CD8+ T cells in chronic hepatitis C virus infection

Regulatory T (T(R)) cells consist of phenotypically and functionally distinct CD4(+) and CD8(+) T cell subsets engaged both in maintaining self-tolerance and in preventing anti-non-self effector responses (microbial, tumor, transplant, and so on) that may be harmful to the host. Here we propose that the proinflammatory function of virus-specific memory effector CCR7(-)CD8(+) T cells, which are massively recruited in the liver, are inefficient (in terms of IFN-gamma production) in patients with chronic hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection because of the concomitant presence of virus-specific CCR7(-)CD8(+) T(R) cells producing considerable amounts of IL-10. These CD8(+) T(R) cells are antigen specific, as they can be stimulated by HCV epitopes and suppress T cell responses that are in turn restored by the addition of neutralizing anti-IL-10. This study provides for the first time to our knowledge direct evidence of the existence of virus-specific CD8(+) T(R) cells that infiltrate the livers of patients with chronic HCV infection, identifies IL-10 as a soluble inhibitory factor mediating suppression, and suggests that these cells play a pivotal role in controlling hepatic effector CD8(+) T cell responses

IgM anti-hepatitis C virus in patients with chronic non-A, non-B hepatitis and their relationship to viral replication

Patients with hepatitis C virus; (HCV) infection may have different patterns of antibody response to various structural and non-structural viral antigens. We have correlated the serological patterns to the clinical features of chronic infection and to viral replication in 68 HCV-Ab-positive patients with chronic liver disease at different stages (19 with cirrhosis-hepatocellular carcinoma, 38 with chronic active hepatitis and 11 with chronic persistent hepatitis). Serum samples from each patient were assayed for HCV-IgM by enzyme immunoassay and for HCV-RNA by the polymerase chain reaction using primer sets derived from the 5'-non-coding region. The prevalence of HCV-IgM was high (54 patients (79.4%)) and the study showed a good correlation between high values of anti-HCV-IgM and the presence of HCV-RNA in serum, since HCV-RNA was detected in 35 of tile 54 IgM-positive patients (64.8%) and notably in 19 of the 20 subjects with high levels of specific IgM. Conversely, all the 35 sera containing HCV-RNA were also reactive for HCV-IgM, while none of the HCV-IgM-negative sera was HCV-RNA reactive. Positivity rates for both HCV-RNA and IgM anti-HCV were higher in the more advanced stages of disease; thus, the clinical pattern of HCV chronic hepatitis seems to be strictly related to the serological pattern and the presence of HCV-RNA

The Future of Crowdfunding Research and Practice

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The Future of Crowdfunding Research and Practice

publishedVersio

Theoretical foundations in the pricing of intermediating services: The case of payments via mobile phones

Intermediating services are relatively new in research. This study explores how consumers may determine the value of intermediating services and the extent on willingness to pay. We investigate a mobile payment technology that intermediates payments facilitated by a telecommunication company and a bank. We show that a derived effect may persuade consumers to pay higher for the intermediating service when the items purchased have a higher surplus to justify the consumption of the service. Our study also shows that money has polarity, in that money that is ‘owned’ by the individual is viewed differently from money ‘not owned’