Study of Th1/Th2 cell disturbance in chronic HBV infection

    ZHAO Yingª²Ren, ZHENG Jie, ZHANG Shuª²Lin

    Institute of Hepatitis, First Hospital, Xi¡¯an Jiaotong University, Xi¡¯an 710061, China

    ¡¾Abstract¡¿ AIM: To explore the cause underlying the Th1/Th2 cell disturbance in chronic HBV infection. METHODS: After monoclonal antibodies against CD3 and CD28 and LPS were applied to stimulate PBMC in chronic HBV patients and normal controls, ILª²10, ILª²12 and IFNª²¦Ã production of PBMC were determined by ELISA. RESULTS: After stimulating by monoclonal antibodies against CD3 and CD28, the levels of IFNª²¦Ã and ILª²10 had no significant difference between chronic HBV patients and normal controls. The level of ILª²12 in chronic HBV patients was significantly lower than that in normal controls (34¡À8 vs 77¡À9, P<0.05) after LPS stimulation. The level of ILª²10 of HBV DNA positive patients was higher than that of HBV negative patients (975¡À101 vs 895¡À97, P<0.05). CONCLUSION: The disturbance of Th1/Th2 cell in chronic HBV infection is not due to the deficiency of the T cell itself. The functional defect of APC may be the main cause underlying the Th1/Th2 disturbance, which is associated with HBV invasion. ......