Chronic hepatitis C virus infection breaks tolerance and drives polyclonal expansion of autoreactive B cells.

ABSTRACT: Chronic Hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection has been linked with B cell lymphoproliferative disorders and several autoimmune-related diseases. The mechanisms of how chronic viral infection affects B cell development and predisposes the patients to autoimmune manifestations are poorly understood. In this study, we established an experimental system to probe the B cell responses and characterize the antibodies from chronic-HCV-infected individuals. We identified an unusual polyclonal expansion of the IgM memory B cell subset in some patients. This B cell subset is known to be tightly regulated, and autoreactive cells are eliminated by tolerance mechanisms. Genetic analysis of the immunoglobulin (Ig) heavy chain variable gene (V(H)) sequences of the expanded cell population showed that the leve

SUBMITTER: Roughan JE 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3393369 | biostudies-literature | 2012 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature