Analysis of mRNA levels of glucocorticoid receptor subtypes in patients with hepatitis B

Objective: To investigate the relationship between clinical severity and mRNA levels of glucocorticoid receptor(GR) subtypes in peripheral blood mononuclear cells(PBMC) isolated from patients with hepatitis B.Methods: The mRNA expression of glucocorticoid receptor GR-α and GR-β in PBMC in control group and three patient groups with different clinical severity of hepatitis B were detected by real-time RT-PCR.Results: Levels of GR-β mRNA were(2.8±0.8)×10-4,(2.6±0.5)×10-4,(3.6±1.3)×10-4 and(3.0±0.9) ×10-4 in chronic hepatitis group,serious hepatitis group,liver cirrhosis group and normal group,respectively.Compared to the normal(5.6±0.5)×10-2,Levels of GR-α mRNA in chronic hepatitis group(22.9±2.8)×10-2 and serious hepatitis group(36.6±3.9)×10-2were significantly increased(t=19.71,P0.001;t=23.73,P0.001),whereas no significant difference of GR-β mRNA levels existed between the normal and all patient groups(P0.05).Conclusions: The expression of GR-α mRNA in PBMC of hepatitis B patients is associated with severity of the disease to some extent.