Study of the association between difference in cellular immunity and liver function of hepatitis B virus genotype B,C and interleukin-7 inducing follicular helper T lymphocytes / 中华传染病杂志

ABSTRACT

Objective To investigate the association between the difference of specific cytotoxic lymphocyte (CTL) and liver function of patients with hepatitis B virus (HBV) genotype B and C infections and interleukin (IL)‐7 induced follicular helper T lymphocytes (Tfh) .Methods Sixty‐seven patients with chronic hepatitis B (CHB) hospitalized at Wuxi No .5 People′s Hospital from August 2013 to January 2015 were collected and 30 healthy blood donors were set as healthy control group .The peripheral blood IL‐7 , Tfh ,IL‐21 ,HBV specific‐CTL ,nonspecific CTL ,levels of HBV DNA ,alanine aminotransferase (ALT) and total bilirubin (TBil) were compared between patients with genotype B and C infection ,hepatitis B e antigen (HBeAg)‐positive and HBeAg‐negative CHB ,high ALT level and low ALT level .Multivariate regression analysis was performed to determine the factors associated with IL‐7 .The t test was used for quantitative data and chi‐square test was used for categorical data .Results Of the 67 CHB patients with average age of (35 .1 ± 11 .4) ,48 were male and 19 were female;32 were infected with genotype C and 35 were infected with genotype B ;40 were HBeAg‐positive CHB and 27 were HBeAg‐negative CHB ;17 were with high ALT levels and 50 were with low ALT levels .IL‐7 ,Tfh ,IL‐21 and HBV specific‐CTL levels in the peripheral blood of genotype C‐infected patients were (20 .79 ± 4 .82 ) ng/L , (3 .93 ± 0 .82)% ,(24 .77 ± 7 .52) ng/L and (0 .20 ± 0 .04)% ,respectively ,while in genotype B‐infected patients , those were (29 .13 ± 8 .17) ng/L ,(5 .92 ± 1 .92)% ,(39 .94 ± 24 .00) ng/L and (0 .40 ± 0 .06)% , respectively .Levels of IL‐7 , Tfh ,IL‐21 and HBV specific‐CTL in genotype C‐infected patients were significantly lower than those in genotype B‐infected patients (t= 5 .027 ,5 .595 ,3 .553 and 15 .133 , respectively ;all P<0 .01) .Nonspecific CTL ,HBV DNA ,ALT and TBil levels in the peripheral blood of genotype C‐infected patients were all significantly higher than those in genotype B infected‐patients (t=4 .899 ,6 .815 ,2 .763 and 4 .899 ,respectively ;all P< 0 .01) .IL‐7 ,Tfh ,IL‐21 ,HBV specific‐CTL levels in the peripheral blood of HBeAg‐positive patients were significantly lower than those in HBeAg‐negative patients (all P<0 .01) .Nonspecific CTL ,HBV DNA ,ALT and TBil levels in the peripheral blood of HBeAg‐positive patients were all significantly higher than those in HBeAg‐negative patients (all P<0 .05) .IL‐7 ,Tfh ,IL‐21 ,HBV specific‐CTL levels in the peripheral blood of patients with high ALT levels were all significantly lower than those in patients with low ALT levels (all P<0 .01) .Nonspecific CTL and HBV DNA levels in the peripheral blood of patients with high ALT levels were both significantly higher than those in patients with low ALT levels (both P<0 .01) .HBV DNA ,IL‐21 and nonspecific CTL were all correlated with IL‐7 (all P<0 .01) .Conclusion The differences of HBV specific‐CTL and liver function in CHB patients infected with genotype B and C may be correlated with interleukin‐7 induced Tfhcells.