Evaluation of varicella zoster virus-specific cell-mediated immunity by using an interferon-γ enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay.

Background: Administration of the varicella vaccine induces both varicella-zoster virus (VZV)-specific humoral and cell-mediated immunity (CMI).

Objective: To assess VZV-CMI, we developed an interferon γ enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (IFN-γ ELISA) that measures the quantity of total IFN-γ in culture supernatants of human peripheral blood mononuclear cells.

Study Design: We evaluated this method by comparing the pre- and post-vaccination immune response in peripheral blood mononuclear cells of 30 healthy children who were administered an initial varicella vaccination at Konan Kosei hospital.

17β-estradiol inhibits the production of infectious particles of hepatitis C virus.

Persistent infection with hepatitis C virus causes serious liver diseases, such as chronic hepatitis, hepatic cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma. The male gender is one of the critical factors in progression of hepatic fibrosis due to chronic HCV infection; thus female hormones may play a role in delaying the progression of hepatic fibrosis. It has also been reported that women are more likely than men to clear HCV in the acute phase of infection.

Efficient production of infectious hepatitis C virus with adaptive mutations in cultured hepatoma cells.

Robust production of infectious hepatitis C virus (HCV) in cell culture was realized by using the JFH1 strain and the homologous chimeric J6/JFH1 strain in Huh-7.5 cells, a highly HCV-permissive subclone of Huh-7 cells. In this study, we aimed to establish a more efficient HCV-production system and to gain some insight into the adaptation mechanisms of efficient HCV production.