Recovery of natural killer cells is mainly in post-treatment period in chronic hepatitis C patients treated with sofosbuvir plus ledipasvir

Figure 6 Sofosbuvir and ledipasvir therapy modulates the expression of natural killer cell-related cytokine interferon-γ, perforin and Granzyme B. Flow cytometric analyses of interferon (IFN)-γ, perforin and Granzyme B expression in natural killer (NK) cells. The graphs display the frequencies and mean fluorescence intensity (MFI) of IFN-γ (A-B), perforin (C-D) and Granzyme B (E-F) in NK cells from CHC patients during and after direct-acting antivirals therapy and healthy controls (n = 13). ^aP < 0.05 and ^bP ≤ 0.01 and ^cP ≤ 0.001, different time points of CHC patients vs healthy controls; ^dP < 0.05 and ^eP ≤ 0.01 and ^fP ≤ 0.001, different time points of CHC patients (2 wk, 4 wk, 8 wk, 12 wk, Pt-12 wk, Pt-24 wk vs 0 wk). IFN: Interferon; NK: Natural killer; CHC: Chronic hepatitis C; Ctrl: Healthy controls; Pt: Post of treatment; MFI: Mean fluorescence intensity.