Enhanced HCV Nonstructural Protein 3 (NS3) -Specific T Cell Proliferation,Interferon γ (IFNγ) and Interleukin-10 (IL-10) Secreting Clones, and Peripheral Blood Natural Killers T Cells ( NKT Cells) in Patients With Type I Gaucher Disease Infected With HCV : An Advantage in Anti Hepatitis Immunity?

Gaucher disease is the most common glycolipid storage disorder, caused by reduced activity of the lysosomal enzyme glucocerebrosidase, which leads to the accumulation of the substrate, glucocerebroside (GC), in the cells of the reticulo-endothelial system.

One of the hallmarks of GD is its great phenotypic heterogeneity with variable presentations and symptoms, beginning with a lethal variant of infants dying at or near birth with hydrops fetalis and ichthyoids at one extreme and totally asymptomatic individuals without any physical or laboratory abnormalities at the other extreme.

This autosomal recessive disease is pan-ethnic, but it is especially prevalent among Ashkenazi Jews. From over 300 different mutations reported in the glucocerebrosidase gene, five account for 98% of the disease-producing alleles. Of these mutations, N370S (or 1226G) occurs in 1 out of 17 Ashkenazi individuals, leading to a disease frequency of 1:850 in this ethnic group.

The high prevalence of more than a single mutation among Ashkenazi Jews and the existence of two additional rare inherited lysosomal glycolipid storage diseases, Tay Sachs and Nieman Pick, at a higher prevalence within the same ethnic group is believed to be caused by selective advantage.

Available genetic data are consistent with a founder effect(4) whereas the nature of such an advantage has not been identified.