ABSTRACT
Objective To investigate the influence of interferon-a therapy on CD8 T memory subsets in patients with chronic hepatitis B(CHB) and correlation between the effect of IFN-α and CD8 T memory subsets. Methods Blood samples from 57 patients with CHB were collected before treatment (0 week), at 12 weeks and 24 weeks of treatment with pegylated IFN-α. Assays were performed on freshly isolated peripheral blood mononuclear cells ( PBMCs). For phenotype analysis, All data were acquired on a flow cytometer instrument and prepared for analysis. Results A significantly higher frequency of CD8+ TEM and lower frequency of CD8+ TCM in inactive HBsAg carriers than that in CHB patients prior to treatment was observed (P <0.05). The proportion of CD8 + TCM was higher in group nonresponders than in group respond-ers, and the proportion of CD8 + TEM was lower in group nonresponders than in group responders (P < 0.05 ). The average dosage of IFN-α applied to patients with response was significantly higher than nonresponders. Conclusion The dominance of circulating effector memory T cells may be associated with elimination of viral infection, and possibly benefit for response to therapy with IFN-α.