Programmed death-1 expression on the peripheral T lymphocytes and the cytokine levels in different phases of patients with hepatitis B virus infection / 中华传染病杂志

ABSTRACT

Objective To study the expression of programmed death 1(PD-1) on the peripheral T lymphocytes and the serum cytokine levels in different phases of hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection (immune tolerance,immune clearance and non-replicating phases).Methods A total of 105 HBV infected patients in different phases of infection were enrolled in Wuxi No.5 People's Hospital from Apr to Sep 2011,and divided into three groupsthe immune tolerance group (35 cases),the immune clearance group (35 cases) and the non-replicating group (35 cases).Meanwhile,20 healthy people were enrolled as controls.The peripheral blood was collected and PD-1 expressions on the surface of T lymphocytes were assessed by flow cytometry.The cytokine levels in different groups were analyzed by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA).The data were analyzed by t test and Pearson correlation analysis.Results The PD-1 expression on surface of CD8+ T lymphocytes of HBV infected patients was (12.35± 3.48)％,which was significantly higher than healthy control group [(4.65±1.21) ％] (t=9.76,P＜0.01).The PD-1 expression on CD4+ T lymphocytes was (4.95±2.87) ％,which was not significantly different from the healthy controls [(4.08±2.14) ％] (t =1.29,P＞0.05).The PD-1 expressions on CD8+ T lymphocytes of patients in the immune tolerance group,the immune clearance group and the non-replicating group were (15.87±3.18)％,(7.69±3.64)％and (10.12±2.84) ％,respectively; that in the immune tolerance group was higher than the immune clearance group (t=10.01,P＜0.01) and that in healthy control group was lower than those in the other 3 groups (t=15.12,3.61 and 8.17,respectively; all P＜0.01).The PD-1 expression on the surface of CD8+ T lymphocytes in chronic HBV infected patients was positively correlated with the serum interleukin-10 (IL-10) level (γ=0.377,P＜0.05),while that was negatively correlated with interferon-γ (IFN-γ) level (r=-0.620,P＜0.05).Conclusions PD-1 is up-regulated on the surface of CD8+ T lymphocytes from chronic HBV infected patients.And PD-1 is negatively correlated with serum IFN-γ levels and positively correlated with serum IL-10 levels.The expression of PD-1 on the surface of CD8+ T lymphocytes influences the balance of helper T cell (Th)1/Th2,which might play a role in the persistence of HBV infection.