Association of CD4+ T lymphocyte count with HBV replication and progression of liver diseases in patients infected with HIV and HBV

The clinical data of 459 patients, who were first diagnosed as HIV/HBV co-infection from January 2007 to December 2013, were retrospectively analyzed. Among all patients, there were 89 cases with CD4 < 50/μl, 134 cases with CD4 50-200/μl and 236 cases with CD4﹥200/μl , when HIV infection was diagnosed. In these three groups with different CD4 levels, the HBV DNA positive rates were 49.3% (37/75), 50.5% (54/107) and 33.7%(66/196); the HBV viral load were (6.37±1.71) log10 copies/ml, (5.82±1.86) log10 copies/ml and (4.36±1.64) log10 copies/ml; the rates of abnormal liver function were 29.2%(26/89), 29.1%(39/134) and 10.6%(25/236); the occurrence rates of end-stage-liver-diseases were 16.9% (15/89), 14.9% (20/134) and 5.1%(12/236); the mortality rates were 10.1% (9/89), 9.7%(13/134) and 3.8%(9/236), respectively. The HBV DNA positive rates, HBV viral load, the rates of abnormal liver function, the occurrence rates of end-stage-liver-diseases and the mortality rates in CD4﹥200/μl group were lower than that in CD4 < 50/μl group and 50-200/μl group. The results suggest that for HIV and HBV co-infection patients, HBV replication level and prognosis of liver diseases are associated with CD4+ T lymphocyte count. Key words: Human immunodeficiency virus proteins; Hepatitis B virus; CD4 positive T-lymphocytes