ISSN 2756-3375
African Journal of Immunology Research ISSN 9431-5833 Vol. 3 (2), pp. 139-142, February, 2016. © International Scholars Journals
Full Length Research Paper
Analysis on clinical features and immunity in chronic hepatitis B virus infected patients with low-level HBsAg
Jun Cheng1*, Changgui Sun1, Yu Chen2, Zhiliang Xu3, Guozheng Wang1, Guanzhong Sun1 and Xiaojun Li4
1Clinical Experimental Center, the 117th Hospital of PLA, Hangzhou 310013, P. R. China.
2First Affiliated Hospital, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310003, P. R. China.
3First Affiliated Hospital, Zhejiang University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Hangzhou 310006, P. R. China.
4General Hospital of Nanjing Military Region, Nanjing 210002, P. R. China.
*Corresponding author. E-mail: [email protected]. Tel: +86571 87348812. Fax: +86 571 87348812.
Accepted 22 January, 2016
Abstract
To understand clinical features and immunity of chronic HBV-infected patients with high or low level HBsAg, the differences of serum two- component-determined circulating immune complexes (TCIC) and peripheral blood lymphocyte subsets between these patients were analyzed. 126 patients with chronic hepatitis B virus infection were divided into two groups including 44 with low-level HBsAg and 82 with high-level HBsAg, and three phases including non-active phase, immune active phase and immune tolerant phase by level of HBsAg and natural history of chronic hepatitis B virus infection. Antibody capture-ELISA method and flow cytometry were used to assay serum TCIC and peripheral blood lymphocyte subsets in 44 patients with low-level HBsAg (Group A), 82 patients with high-level HBsAg (Group B) and 22 healthy volunteers (Group C), respectively, and the results were analyzed and compared. Among these 44 patients in Group A, 40 patients (90.9%) were stable in non- active phase and the positive rate of HBsAg/IgG-CIC was the highest, accounting for 15.9% (7/44), while the positive rate of HBsAg/C3-CIC was the highest in Group B, accounting for 46.3% (38/82). The positive rates of serum TCIC, A value and non-active CD3+CD8+ percentages in Group A were all lower than those in Group B with corresponding phases (P<0.01-0.05), however, the percentages of CD4+/CD8+ were higher than those in the corresponding phases of Group B(P<0.01) . Patients with low-level HBsAg were correlated to low capability of TCIC synthesis and elimination and there was a low dose-induced immunotolerance phenomenon.
Key words: Immune complex, chronic HBV infection, HBsAg, lymphocyte subsets, immunotolerance.