The Functional Status of Dendritic Cells Derived from Peripheral Blood Mononuclear Cells in Patients with Chronic Hepatitis B

To study the functional status of the dendritic cells derived from PBMC in patients of chronic hepatitis B,a comparison was made in the differences in phenotypes and the stimulating capacities of allogeneic lymphocytes between patients with chronic hepatitis B and those of the normal controls The dendritic cells were counted and phenotyped by cytometric analysis,and the functional status of these cells was estimated by the stimulating reactions of allogeneic lymphocytes and the concentrations of cytokines,such as IL 12 and IL 6 in the supernatants of dendritic cell cultures as determined by ELISA Results showed that the quantities of the dendritic cells induced from the precursor cells in patients with chronic hepartitis B were significantly lower than those from normal controls On the 3 rd , 6 th and 9 th days of cell culturing,the expressions of CD1a,CD83,CD80,HLA DR molecules on the dendritc cells of patients were also lower in comparison with those of the normal controls,with exception of that of the CD14 molecule that it was rather higher Similarly,the capacity of dendritic cells to stimulate the allogeneic lymphocytes was weaken in patients After 6 days culturing,the concentration of IL 12 in the supernatants of the dendritic cell cultures was lower than those of the controls,but that of IL 6 was higher These results indicate that the functional status of the dendritic cells derived from peripheral blood is inhibitory,and the expressions of cytokines appear to be abnormal in cases of chronic hepatitis B