We explore the expression of functional molecules on CD8+ T lymphocytes, cytokines concentration, and their correlation to occurrence of hepatitis B and hepatitis B virus (HBV) desoxyribose nucleic acid (DNA), hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg), hepatitis B envelope antigen (HBeAg), and alanine aminotransferase (ALT) in patients infected with HBV.
This is a single center study. 32 patients with acute hepatitis B (AHB), 30 patients with immune tolerant (IT) phase chronic HBV infected, and 50 patients with chronic hepatitis B (CHB) were enrolled. The activation molecules (CD69) and the apoptosis-inducing molecules (CD178) on surface of CD8+ T lymphocytes were tested by the flow cytometry. Fms-like tyrosine kinase 3 ligand (Flt-3L), interleukin 17A (IL-17A), interferon γ (IFN-γ), and Interferon α2 (IFN-α2) were quantitated by Luminex assay. We use linear regression analysis to analyze their correlations to ALT, HBV DNA, HBsAg, and HBeAg.
The frequency of CD69+CD8+ T lymphocytes in CHB and AHB groups were increased significantly compared with IT group (4.19[3.01, 6.18]% and 4.45[2.93, 6.71]% vs. 3.02[2.17, 3.44]%;
The activation of CD8+ T lymphocytes was associated with the occurrence of AHB and CHB. However, due to the insufficient expression of functional molecules of CD8+ T lymphocytes and the depletion of CD8+ T lymphocytes, CHB patients were difficult to recover from HBV infection.