Impact of HBeAg status on immune reconstitution in HIV/HBV co-infected patients

Objective To investigate the relationship between HBeAg status before treatment and immune reconstitution after HAART in HIV/HBV co-infected patients. Methods The HIV/HBV co-infected individuals admitted to the Eighth People’s Hospital of Guangzhou from 2009 to 2011 were enrolled into HBeAg-positive group (39 cases) and HBeAg-negative group (36 cases) respectively according to HBeAg status before treatment. HIV mono-infected individuals in the same period who had matched baseline CD4+T cells were enrolled into control group (60 cases) . CD4+T, CD8+T cell counts and CD4+/CD8+ ratio in peripheral blood were detected at 0 year (before treatment) , the 2nd year, 4th year and 6th year of HAART. Data of the 3 groups were analyzed by SPSS 19.0 statistical analysis software. Results The viral inhibition and CD4+T recovery of three groups during HAART were both good. The results indicated that the CD4+T cell counts and CD4+/CD8+ ratio in the HBeAg-negative group were continuously lower than those in HIV mono-infected group at the 2nd, 4th and 6th year, and the difference of CD4+/CD8+ ratio at the 6th year was statistically significant (Z=-2.425, P 0.05) , but the trend of the CD4+/CD8+ ratio in the HBeAg-negative group remained lower than that in the HBeAg-positive group. No differences were found between the HBeAg-positive group and the HIV mono-infected group at four time points. Conclusions HBeAg-negative status before HAART delays immune reconstruction in HIV/HBV co-infected patients, and the details of mechanism are to be explored. Key words: HIV; Hepatitis B virus; HBeAg; Immune reconstitution