Interleukin-4 induces human hepatocyte apoptosis through a Fas-independent pathway.

IL-4 is overexpressed in liver grafts during severe recurrent hepatitis C and rejection. Hepatocyte apoptosis is involved in both these phenomena. We therefore examined the proapoptotic effect of IL-4 on HepG2 cells and human hepatocytes in vitro, together with the underlying mechanisms.

A novel, sensitive, and specific RT-PCR technique for quantitation of hepatitis C virus replication.

The detection of negative-strand hepatitis C virus (HCV) RNA is a hallmark of replication. A highly sensitive and specific method is required to quantify the very low level of replication inherent to in vitro infection systems. Based on reverse transcription with a tagged primer in the 5' non-coding region of the HCV genome, followed by a nested PCR with a second round of real-time PCR, a novel method is described with improved sensitivity for negative-strand HCV RNA quantification.