Viral load and lymphocyte subpopulations in newly diagnosed patients with chronic Hepatitis B

INTRODUCTION: The immune response against Hepatitis B virus (HBV) represents a key factor for infection outcome. However, the relation between viral replication and host immune reactivity is still a matter of investigation. AIM: To investigate whether the cellular immune response of newly diagnosed treatment naive chronic hepatitis B (CHB) patients may be influenced by the replicative status of HBV. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A total of 45 (17 female and 28 male) newly diagnosed untreated CHB patients aged 42.48±13.19 years (19÷71 years) were enrolled in this study. The patients were divided in two groups according to the viral load: >0÷≤10 4 copies/ml (n=25) and >10  4 ÷<10 8 copies/ml (n=17). Flowcytometric immunophenotyping was performed for evaluation of the cellular immunity. Serum HBV DNA load was assessed by quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction. RESULTS : Similar alterations were observed in both patients’ groups in comparison with healthy controls which could be summarized as follows: decreased total T cells (CD3+) due to low helper-inducer (CD3+CD4+) and suppressor-cytotoxic (CD3+CD8+) subpopulations; reduced effector cytotoxic (CD8+CD11b-; CD8+CD28+) and activated (CD3+HLA-DR+, CD8+CD38+) T-cell subsets; increased CD57+CD8- cells; elevated percentage of B lymphocytes. No significant differences in the studied immune parameters were detected between both patients’ groups except the significantly elevated CD4/CD8 ratio in individuals with higher in comparison to those with lower HBV DNA levels. CONCLUSION: Alterations in the cellular immune repertoire of CHB patients were observed resulting mainly in significantly decreased T-cell subpopulations, particularly those with effector cell immune phenotype regardless of the viral load.