Influence of sofosbuvir-based antiviral therapy on the expression profile of cytokines and chemokines in patients with chronic hepatitis C

Objective To investigate the influence of sofosbuvir-based antiviral therapy on the expression profile of cytokines and chemokines in patients with chronic hepatitis C. Methods A total of 37 previously untreated patients with chronic hepatitis C who visited Department of Infectious Diseases in Hainan Provincial People's Hospital from August 2018 to January 2019 were enrolled. The patients with HCV genotypes 1 b,3,and 6 were given oral sofosbuvir and velpatasvir tablets,while those with HCV genotype 2 a were given oral sofosbuvir combined with ribavirin. A total of 15 healthy individuals were enrolled as healthy controls. Multiple cytokine assay kits were used to measure the serum levels of 36 cytokines and chemokines. The expression profile of cytokines and chemokines at baseline were compared between chronic hepatitis C patients and healthy controls,and the changes in the expression of cytokines and chemokines were analyzed for chronic hepatitis C patients at 12 weeks of treatment. The t-test was used for comparison of normally distributed continuous data between the two groups,and a one-way analysis of variance was used for comparison between multiple groups,the Pearson correlation analysis was used to investigate correlation; the Mann-Whitney U rank sum test was used for comparison of non-normally distributed continuous data between two groups,and the Kruskal-Wallis H test was used for comparison between multiple groups,the Spearman correlation analysis was used to investigate correlation. Results Compared with the healthy control group,the chronic hepatitis C group had significantly higher levels of interleukin-6(IL-6),interferon-inducible protein 10(IP-10),monocyte chemotactic protein-4(MCP-4),macrophage inflammatory protein-3α(MIP-3α),and vascular endothelial growth factor-A(VEGF-A)(Z = 2. 020,2. 368,2. 752,1. 976,and 2. 110,P= 0. 019,0. 049,0. 003,0. 024,and 0. 002) and a significantly lower level of interleukin-7(IL-7)(Z = 2. 778,P = 0. 048). There were no significant differences in the remaining 30 cytokines and chemokines between the healthy controls and the chronic hepatitis C patients(all P > 0. 05). The levels of cytokines and chemokines were not correlated with HCV RNA or alanine aminotransferase(all P > 0. 05). After 12 weeks of sofosbuvir-based antiviral therapy,there were significant reductions in the serum levels of IL-6,IP-10,MCP-4,and MIP-3α(all P < 0. 05),while there were no significant changes in IL-7 and VEGF-A after treatment(both P > 0. 05). Conclusion IL-6,IP-10,MCP-4,MIP-3α,and VEGF-A might be involved in HCV-mediated inflammatory response,and sofosbuvir-based antiviral therapy can effectively reduce the expression of IL-6,IP-10,MCP-4,and MIP-3α and inhibit liver inflammation.