Impacts of interferon-α therapy on the phenotypes of cultured dendritic cells in patients with chronic hepatitis B

Objective To study the impact of interferon-alpha therapy on the phenotypes of dendritic cells (DCs) cultured from peripheral blood mononuclear cells in patients with chronic hepatitis B. Methods Peripheral blood mononuclear cells(PBMCs)were isolated from all patients(32 cases) and healthy controls(10 persons).and cultured with granulocyte-macrophage colony-stumilating factor(GM-CSF),interleukin-4 (IL-4) and tumor necrosis factorⅡ(TNF-Ⅱ)in RPMI1640 medium that contained 10% fetus cattle serum. After culturing for 7 days. take count of the DCs and detect the phenotypes by FACs. After all the patients were given interferon-alpha therapy for 3 months.the phenotypes of DCs were again detected.then the data were statistically analysed.Results The DCs were fewer (P0.05) and the expressive level of CD83 and CD86 which were DCs surface co-stimulating factors were lower(P0.05) in patients with chronic hepatitis B than the controls. And the expression level of CD83 and CD86 were higher (P0.05)after interferon-alpha therapy than that before interferon-alpha therapy.Conclusion Inter-feron-alpha therapy can improve the expression level of CD83 and CD86 of cultured DCs from peripheral blood mononuclear cells in patients with chronic hepatitis B. This might be an important mechanism of interferon-alpha treatment for chronic hepatitis B.