Evaluation of the Effectiveness of NK Vue Gold Kit in Patients with Chronic Hepatitis B

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND: The associations between hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection and natural killer cell activity (NKA) have been studied. However, there have been no studies on detection of NKA in HBV patients using NK Vue Gold kit (ATGen Co., Korea), which has been developed in Korea and can easily detect NKA in whole blood. METHODS: A patient group of 40 patients diagnosed with hepatitis B antigen-positive chronic hepatitis B and a control group of 40 people eligible for blood donation were selected for this study. Whole blood (1 mL) was collected in special tubes for analysis with NK Vue Gold kit. The concentration of interferon-γ (IFN-γ) was measured and considered to represent NKA. RESULTS: There was no significant difference in the median (value, range) of concentration of IFN-γ between the patient (2,000, 89–2,000 pg/mL) and control groups (1,786, 333–2,000 pg/mL). The concentration of IFN-γ was inversely correlated with leukocyte count in both patient (r=–0.390, P=0.022) and control (r=–0.339, P=0.032) groups. The concentration of IFN-γ in the patient group was inversely correlated with concentrations of alanine aminotransferase (r=–0.363, P=0.021), aspartate aminotransferase (r=–0.336, P=0.037), and bilirubin (r=–0.376, P=0.020). CONCLUSIONS: There was no significant difference in NKA between the patient and control group. Caution should be practiced when interpreting results of NKA, because leukocyte count can affect concentration of IFN-γ.