Sex Differences in Spontaneous Degranulation Activity of Intrahepatic Natural Killer Cells during Chronic Hepatitis B: Association with Estradiol Levels.

Zuzana Macek Jilkova,Alice Marlu,Patrice N Marche,Evelyne Jouvin-Marche,Thomas Decaens,Hélène Marche

doi:10.1155/2017/3214917

Abstract

Major sex differences are observed in the prevalence, intensity, and severity of hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection. Here, we investigated degranulation activity of circulating and intrahepatic natural killer (NK) cells from HBV and HCV chronically infected patients before any treatment (n = 125). The frequency of CD107+ NK cells in the female liver was significantly higher compared to that in males during chronic HBV infection (p = 0.002) and correlated with the plasma levels of estradiol (correlation coefficient r = 0.634; p < 0.0001). Our results clearly show sex differences in degranulation activity of intrahepatic NK cells of HBV-infected patients. This probably contributes to the ability of females to better deal with HBV disease.

Highlights

The liver is an immune-privileged organ in which antigenrich blood is pressed through a network of microscopic vessels called sinusoids where blood is scanned by intrahepatic (IH) immune cells
Mean percentage of CD107a+ IH-natural killer (NK) cells was significantly higher in liver biopsies from hepatitis B virus (HBV)-infected females (n = 16) compared to HBV-infected males (n = 27), with a frequency of CD107a+ IH-NK 8.4 ± 1.2% in females compared to 4.5 ± 0.6% in males (Figure 1(a))
When the cohorts were compared regardless of gender, we observed no difference in the frequency of CD107+ intrahepatic NK cells in HBV patients compared to HCV patients

Summary

Introduction

The liver is an immune-privileged organ in which antigenrich blood is pressed through a network of microscopic vessels called sinusoids where blood is scanned by intrahepatic (IH) immune cells. The prevalence, intensity, and severity of HBV disease itself are consistently higher in men than in women [1,2,3]. The higher incidence of HBV in men for sure contributes to sex differences in occurrence of HCC, but even among HBsAg-positive individuals, liver cancer mortality is two times higher in males compared to females [1]. Sex-specific differences in exposure to risk factors, such as alcohol consumption or drug use in male population, do not fully explain the greater severity of HBV disease and the higher occurrence of HCC in males compared to females. Understanding the mechanisms that enable females to better deal with HBV disease and to reduce their risk of developing HCC needs to be elucidated

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