Relations between HBeAg titer and viral loads with T lymphocyte subsets distribution in the peripheral blood of chronic hepatitis B patients

Objective To analyze the relations between the HBeAg titer and viral loads with T lymphocyte subsets distribution in chronic hepatitis B patients. Methods There were 87 CHB patients in the Fifth People’s Hospital of Suzhou from January to August in 2013 as research objects and 50 healthy physical examinations as normal group. HBeAg was detected by chemiluminescence method and the serum HBV viral loads were detected by the real-time quantitative PCR. The peripheral T-lymphocyte subsets were detected by flow cytometry. In 87 hepatitis B patients, there were 54 cases of HBeAg positive and 33 cases of negative; and there were 60 cases of HBV DNA positive and 27 cases of nagetive. Fifty-four HBeAg positive cases were divided into 3 groups by HBeAg content: low titer group, middle titer group and high titer group. Sixty HBV DNA positive cases were divided into 3 groups by viral load: high HBV DNA load group, middle load group and low load group. Results The percentages of CD3+ and CD4+T cells in HBeAg positive group were (60.36±6.62) % and (29.26±7.62) %, and were both lower than control group (t=8.95, 7.19, P both<0.05) . The percentage of CD8+ T cells were (26.17±6.34) %, and were higher than the control group (t=-2.27, P<0.05) . The differences of CD3+, CD4+ and CD8+T cells among different HBV DNA load group and control group had statistical significances (F=2.93, 3.97 and 7.67, P all<0.05) . The differences of CD3+, CD4+ and CD8+ T cells among HBeAg positive group, negative group and control group had statistical significances (F=30.68, 22.86 and 3.31, P all <0.05) . Conclusions The relations between HBeAg titer and viral load with T lymphocyte subsets in chronic hepatitis B patients are very close, so detecting the T lymphocyte subsets can be conductive to understand the patient's immune function and provide the basis for the clinical to regulate the immune function of the patients promptly and apply antiviral therapy. Key words: Hepatitis B virus; Hepatitis B e antigens; Viral loads; T lymphocytes