The relationship between histological activity index and serum of tumor necrosis factor-α,peripheral blood T cell subsets in patients with chronic hepatitis B

Objective To study the relationship between histological activity index and serum of tumor nec-rosis factor-α（ TNF-α） ,peripheral blood T cell subsets in patients with chronic hepatitis B.Methods Histopatholog-ical examinations were performed in 237 patients with chronic hepatitis B and 12 controls.The histological activity index（ HAI） were analyzed by knodels method.These patients were divided into the four groups according to histologi-cal activity index classification：the control group（n=12）,mild group（n=67）,moderate group（n=89）,and severe group（n=81）.The serum levels of TNF-αwere determined by ELISA,and peripheral blood T cell subsets were ana-lyzed by flow cytometry.Results The serum level of TNF-αin the mild group[（29.65 ±10.15）μg/L],moderate group[（38.96 ±7.32）μg/L]and severe group[（47.73 ±6.99）μg/L]were higher than those in the control group [（13.78 ±6.40）μg/L]（q=14.38,19.97,24.83,all P〈0.05）,significant positive correlation lied between the histological activity index classification and the serum level of TNF-α（r=0.708,P〈0.05）.The rate of CD8＋cells in the moderate group[（27.66 ±6.63）μg/L]and the severe group[（28.98 ±5.92）μg/L]were higher than those in the control group[（22.32 ±1.84）μg/L]（q=3.84,4.76,all P〈0.05）,and the ratio of CD4＋/CD8＋in the moderate group（1.32 ±0.37） and the severe group（1.19 ±0.30） were lower than those in the control group（1.67 ±0.14） （q=4.20,5.72,all P〈0.05）,but the rate of CD8＋cells and the ratio of CD4＋/CD8＋showed no significance among the mild group,moderate group and severe group.Conclusion TNF-αand disorder of cellular immunity may play an important role in the development and progression of intrahepatic vascular lesion. Key words: Hepatitis B,chronic; Histological activity index; T cell subsets; Tumor necrosis factor-alpha