Influence of the invasion of peripheral blood mononuclear cells by hepatitis B virus on immune response of the patients with chronic hepatitis B

Objective:To exploretheinfluenceof HBVinvasionintoperipheralbloodmononuclearcells(PBMC)on theimmuneresponseof patientswithchronichepatitisB.Method s:Thecytokinelevelsintheculturesupernatantof PBMCfrom56patientswithchronichepatitisB weredeterminedby ELISA,andPCRwasemployedto amplifythe HBVDNA.Results:Thelevelsof IFN-γinpatientswithhepatitisB waslowerthanthosetof thecontrol,butthe differencewasnotstatisticallysignificant,whilethelevelsof IL-4weresignificantlyhigherthanthoseof thecontrol(P<0.01).Theserumlevelsof HBVDNAwerenegativelycorrelatedwiththatof IFN-γin culturesupernatantsof PBMC.Thirty-fivepatientspositiveof HBVDNA inthePBMCswereidentifiedfrom56patientswithhepatitisB,andtheirIFN-γlevelprovedto be significantlydifferent.Conclusions:Th2cell-mediatedimmuneresponseis predo-minantin chronichepatitisB whichis associatedwiththechronicityof HBVinfection.HBVinvasionintothe PBMCsmayaffectTh1andTh2cell-mediatedimmuneresponseof thepatientswithchronichepatitisB.