Acute hepatitis C virus infection in a nurse trainee following a needlestick injury

Table 1 Immunologic mechanisms involved in acute phase of hepatitis C virus infection and predictive of viral clearance or persistence and chronicity of infection

	Immunologic marker	Mechanism involved	Ref.
Acute phase of HCV infection and predictive of viral clearance	IFN-α/-β	Vigorous IFN-stimulated genes; inhibition of IL12 expression	[21]
	IFN-γ	HCV core induced generation of reactive oxygen species with stimulation of monocytes and NKs	[22]
	IFN-λ	Host IL28B gene polymorphism (CC allele favorable)	[23]
	CD4/CD8	Multispecific intrahepatic Th1 T cells activation	[26]
	HLA-B27/-B57/-A3	Protective HLA alleles on T cell epitopes	[29]
HCV persistence and chronicity of infection	TGF-β/IL10	Inhibition of anti-HCV core/NS2 Th1 response	[24,25]
	CD161	HCV-specific Th17 T cells regulated by TGF-β and IL10	[27]
	HCV HVR-1 specific Abs	Viral escape from Abs mediated neutralization	[28]
	PD1/2B4/CD160	Inhibitory T cell receptors on CD8+ cells	[30]

HCV: Hepatitis C virus; HVR: Hypervariable region; IFN: Interferon; TGF-β: Transforming growth factor-β; IL: Interleukin; HLA: Human leukocyte antigen; NK: Natural killer.