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

Mediators Inflamm. 2017:2017:3214917. doi: 10.1155/2017/3214917. Epub 2017 Apr 2.

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.

MeSH terms

  • Cell Line
  • Estradiol / metabolism*
  • Female
  • Flow Cytometry
  • Hepatitis B, Chronic / immunology
  • Hepatitis B, Chronic / metabolism*
  • Humans
  • Killer Cells, Natural / cytology
  • Killer Cells, Natural / immunology
  • Killer Cells, Natural / metabolism*
  • Liver / cytology
  • Liver / immunology
  • Liver / metabolism*
  • Male
  • Sex Factors

Substances

  • Estradiol