Elevated Expression of Toll-like Receptor 2 on Peripheral Blood Monocytes in Patients with Chronic and Chronic Severe Hepatitis B

[Objective] To study the change of TLR2 on peripheral blood monocytes (PBMCs) and its role in the pathogenesis of chronic and chronic severe hepatitis B. [Methods] Randomly selected 31 patients with chronic hepatitis B, 30 patients with chronic severe hepatitis B and 30 healthy controls entered into this study. The expression of TLR2 on PBMCs was determined by flow cytometry. The level of serum tumor necrosis factor α (TNF-α) was determined by ELISA. The serum HBV DNA level was determined by fluorescence PCR and presented as Lg (HBV DNA). Total bilirubin (TB) and prothrombin time (PT) were routine tests. The differences between three means were determined by one-way ANOVA and Scheffe test. The difference between two means was determined by Mann-Whitney U test. The correlations between TLR2 and TNF-α, Lg (HBV DNA), TB, PT were determined by linear correlation test. [Results] The values of TLR2 on PBMCs and serum TNF-α in the group of healthy controls, the group of patients with chronic hepatitis B and the group of patients with chronic severe hepatitis B were (21.5 ± 2.7)MFI, (39.0 ± 4.1)MFI, (47.7 ± 21.4)MFI, and (54 ± 38)ng/L, (164 ± 90) ng/L, (360 ± 140)ng/L. Both of them increased gradually and significantly. There was a significant positive correlation between the value of TLR2 and the value of serum TNF-α. The values of TB, PT and Lg(HBV DNA) in the group of patients with chronic severe hepatitis B and the group of patients with chronic hepatitis B were (470 ± 225) μmol/L and (101 ± 131) μmol/L, (35.1 ± 21.1)s and (15.4 ± 2.2)s, 5.9 ± 2.0 and 5.4 ± 1.6. The values of TB and PT in the group of patients with chronic severe hepatitis B were significantly higher than those in the group of patients with chronic hepatitis B. But there was no significant difference for the values of Lg(HBV DNA) between the above two groups. There were significant positive correlations between the values of TLR2 and TB, PT, but not Lg(HBV DNA).[Conclusion] There may be a role of TLR2 in the pathogenesis of chronic hepatitis B and chronic severe hepatitis B.