Table 1.
The characteristics of HCV-infected patients who were studied immunologicallya)
| Patient | Age | Gender | HCV genotype | Fibrosis score | ALT day 0 | ALT day 28 | Viral load day 0 | Viral load day 28 | Treatment duration |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Group 1: treatment failure | |||||||||
| 1A | 54 | m | 3 | nd | 103 | 49 | 2,070,684 | 86 | 6 |
| 1B | 53 | m | 3 | 4 | 165 | 85 | 514,722 | 0 | 6 |
| 1C | 43 | m | 1 | 6 | 312 | 163 | 761,046 | 70,776 | 12 |
| 1D | 50 | f | 1 | 6 | 117 | 99 | 3,265,796 | 665,747 | 3 |
| 1E | 58 | m | 3 | 2 | 72 | 37 | 1,011,100 | 288,632 | 6 |
| 1F | 54 | m | 2 | 4 | 194 | 240 | 4,078,688 | 156 | 6 |
| 1G | 58 | m | 3 | 6 | 53 | 32 | 308,268 | 25,064 | 5 |
| 1H | 51 | m | 1/3 | 1 | 39 | 22 | 3,763,573 | 19,2710 | 3 |
| 1I | 29 | f | 4 | nd | 38 | 22 | 620,568 | 17,3316 | 3 |
| Group 2: treatment success (SVR) with absent/ transient weak CD4+ responses | |||||||||
| 2A | 44 | m | 3 | 1 | 58 | 26 | 2,568,800 | 0 | 6 |
| 2B | 44 | m | 3 | 0 | 76 | 35 | 61,816 | 0 | 6 |
| 2C | 38 | m | 1 | 1 | 460 | 45 | 123,797 | 0 | 12 |
| 2D | 43 | m | 3 | 1 | 77 | 42 | 787,310 | 100 | 6 |
| 2E | 41 | f | 3 | 1 | 101 | 41 | 10,240,942 | 0 | 6 |
| 2F | 35 | m | 3 | nd | 103 | 113 | 57,298 | 0 | 6 |
| 2G | 47 | m | 3 | nd | 169 | 43 | 4,744,286 | 0 | 6 |
| 2H | 58 | m | 1 | 2 | 72 | 37 | 24,478 | 0 | 12 |
| 2I | 38 | m | 3 | 1 | 23 | 24 | 1,618,700 | 0 | 6 |
| 2J | 55 | m | 3 | 0 | 82 | 16 | 3,908,770 | 10 | 6 |
| 2K | 63 | m | 3 | 6 | 31 | 27 | 349,428 | 10 | 6 |
| 2L | 49 | m | 1 | 1 | 33 | 28 | 8,254,842 | 10 | 12 |
| 2M | 39 | m | 3 | 2 | 136 | 33 | 1,595,253 | 0 | 6 |
| 2N | 53 | m | 3 | nd | 26 | 14 | 393,794 | nd | 6 |
| 2O | 32 | m | 3 | 1 | 615 | 306 | 4,481,874 | 0 | 6 |
| 2P | 41 | f | 3 | 4 | 134 | 64 | 3,385,406 | <15 | 6 |
| 2Q | 46 | f | 5 | nd | 52 | 22 | 7,574,073 | 632 | 12 |
| Group 3: treatment success (SVR) with robust CD4+ responses | |||||||||
| 3A | 42 | m | 3 | 1 | 67 | 48 | 192,122 | 0 | 6 |
| 3B | 34 | f | 3 | nd | 33 | 32 | 168,874 | 10 | 6 |
| 3C | 39 | m | 1 | nd | 326 | 24 | 2,597,732 | 440 | 12 |
| 3D | 54 | f | 3 | 3 | 28 | 22 | 507,416 | 0 | 6 |
| 3E | 27 | m | 1 | 1 | 63 | 27 | 5,961,828 | 706 | 12 |
| 3F | 67 | f | 3 | 1 | 174 | 73 | 223,064 | 204 | 6 |
| 3G | 50 | f | 1 | 1 | 27 | 23 | 139,271 | 10 | 12 |
Details of patient age and gender are shown as well as the genotype of the infecting HCV. As indicators of hepatic disease, pretreatment liver biopsy modified Knodell fibrosis scores (0–6) are shown alongside ALT levels (normal < 45 IU/ml). Group 1 contains the patients who ultimately failed to clear the virus on treatment; Group 2 contains patients who cleared the virus after treatment (i.e., had an SVR as defined in Materials and methods) yet demonstrated minimal CD4+ T-cell responses; Group 3 contains patients who cleared the virus after treatment (i.e., had an SVR) and demonstrated robust broad antiviral CD4+ T-cell responses. Details of the measured T-cell responses are shown in Fig. 1 and Table 2. No baseline characteristics corresponded to the behavior of the patient immunologically.
SVR: sustained virologic response; nd: not determined; NI: necroinflammatory; m: male; f: female.