Figure 3.

Programmed death 1 (PD-1) expression is inversely associated with interleukin-12 (IL-12) production by monocyte/macrophage (M/Mφ). M/Mφ from hepatitis C virus (HCV) -positive and -negative subjects were stimulated with lipopolysaccharide (LPS)/R848 as above followed by staining and flow cytometric analysis. The relationship between PD-1 (a) or PD-1 ligand (PDL-1) (b) expression and IL-12 production in M/Mφ was analysed by Pearson correlation using SPSS 18 software. The association of PD-1 expression and IL-12 production in M/Mφ was also longitudinally studied in HCV-infected subjects before and after antiviral treatment with interferon/ribavirin (IFN/RBV) with sustained virological response (c, n= 4, and d, n = 5). Paired Student's t-test was used to calculate P value here.