Immunophenotypic profile of intrahepatic and circulating lymphocytes in chronic hepatitis B patients

Persistent hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection is associated with particular deficiencies in the host immune system. To gain insight into the role of lymphocyte subsets involved in viral clearance and hepatic injury.

The immunophenotype of peripheral blood and biopsied liver tissues in hepatitis B patients were examined.

Among lymphocyte subsets analyzed, CD45RA+CD62L+ subsets were significantly lower in HBV-infected livers than in healthy controls. Intrahepatic naive lymphocytes was negatively correlated with serum viral load (r =-0.47, p<0.05) and liver injury measured by serum alanine aminotransferase (ALT) (r=-0.36, p<0.05). Serum HBV DNA was also negatively associated with intrahepatic CD8+CD95+ (r=-0.49, p<0.01), circulating CD4+HLA-DR+ (r=-0.43, p<0.05) and circulating CD3+CD(16+56)+ (r =-0.35, p<0.05). CD3+CD8+ subsets were positively correlated with serum ALT and HBV DNA (r=0.56, 0.74, p<0.01), respectively.

These data suggest a key role for the exhaustion of intrahepatic naive lymphocyte reservoir in the development of a weak antiviral immune response and the inability to control viral replication in chronic hepatitis B patients. While cellular immunity is critical to clear the viral load, over-activated cytotoxic lymphocytes may also be involved in hepatic injury.