Most individuals exposed to hepatitis C virus (HCV) become persistently infected while a minority spontaneously eliminate the virus. Although early immune events influence infection outcome, the cellular composition, molecular effectors, and timeframe of the host response active shortly after viral exposure remain incompletely understood. Employing specimens collected from people who inject drugs (PWID) with high risk of HCV exposure, we utilized RNA-Seq to characterize immune function in peripheral blood before, during, and after acute HCV infection resulting in spontaneous resolution. Our results provide a detailed description of innate immune programs active in peripheral blood during acute HCV infection, which include prominent type I interferon and inflammatory signatures. Innate immune gene expression rapidly returns to pre-infection levels upon viral clearance. This innate response coincides with a decrease in B cell transcriptional signatures. These results represent the first longitudinal transcriptomic characterization of human immune function in acute HCV infection and identify several dynamically regulated features of the complex response to natural HCV exposure. SOURCE: Naglaa Shoukry (naglaa.shoukry@umontreal.ca) -  CRCHUM

Pluto Bioinformatics

GSE119117: Longitudinal transcriptomic characterization of the immune response to acute hepatitis C virus infection