Ribavirin Does Not Impair the Suppressive Activity of Foxp3+CD4+CD25+ Regulatory T Cells.
- Author:
Jeewon LEE
1
;
Yoon Seok CHOI
;
Eui Cheol SHIN
Author Information
- Publication Type:Brief Communication
- Keywords: Regulatory T cells; Ribavirin; Suppressive activity; Hepatitis C virus
- MeSH: Hepacivirus; Humans; Interferon-alpha; Ribavirin; T-Lymphocytes; T-Lymphocytes, Regulatory; Tissue Donors
- From:Immune Network 2013;13(1):25-29
- CountryRepublic of Korea
- Language:English
- Abstract: Ribavirin is an antiviral drug used in combination with pegylated interferon-alpha (IFN-alpha) for the treatment of hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection. Recently, ribavirin was reported to inhibit the suppressive activity of regulatory T (Treg) cells. In the present study, we re-evaluated the effect of ribavirin on Foxp3+CD4+CD25+ Treg cells from normal donors. First, we examined the expression of CTLA-4 and CD39, which are known to play a role in the suppressive function of Treg cells. We found that ribavirin treatment did not modulate the expression of CTLA-4 and CD39 in Treg cells. We also studied the effect of ribavirin on Treg cells in the presence of IFN-alpha; however, the expression of CTLA-4 and CD39 in Treg cells was not changed by ribavirin in the presence of IFN-alpha. Next, we directly evaluated the effect of ribavirin on the suppressive activity of Treg cells in the standard Treg suppression assay, by co-culturing CFSE-labeled non-Treg CD4+ T cells with purified Treg cells. We found that ribavirin did not attenuate the suppressive activity of Treg cells. Taken together, while ribavirin reversed Treg cell-mediated suppression of effector T cells in the previous study, we herein demonstrate that ribavirin does not impair the suppressive activity of Treg cells.
