ABSTRACT
Objective To investigate the effect and clinical significance of HBV replication on the serum levels of IL-12 and IL-18 in patients with hepatitis B-related cirrhosis.Methods The levels of HBV-DNA and IL-12 and IL-18 in peripheral blood from 136 patients with different clinic types chronic hepatic diseases(102 patients with chronic hepatitis B,34 patients with hepatitis B-related cirrhosis ),95 HBV carriers and 20 healthy people (as control group) were respectively detected with ELISA and real time PCR.Results The levels of IL-12 and IL-18 in chronic hepatitis B and hepatitis B-related cirrhosis groups were significantly increased compared with control group(P0.05); and there was positive relationship between prevalence of HBV replication and IL-12,IL-18 levels in different chronic hepatic disease groups(r=0.74,P