Journal
FRONTIERS IN MEDICINE
Volume 8, Issue -, Pages -Publisher
FRONTIERS MEDIA SA
DOI: 10.3389/fmed.2021.759292
Keywords
chronic hepatitis B; immune cells; exhaustion; cytokines; functional impairment
Categories
Funding
- Scientific Research Fund Project of Zhejiang Traditional Chinese Medicine [2017ZA024]
- Scientific Research Project of Zhejiang Province [2019KY048]
Ask authors/readers for more resources
The study revealed that patients with chronic hepatitis B (CHB) exhibit various immune cell disorders and functional impairments, particularly in NK and T cells. These cells showed exhaustion, and the increase in regulatory B cells may contribute to this phenomenon.
After infection of hepatitis B virus (HBV), the virus induces a variety of immune disorders in the host, leading to immune escape and, finally, the chronicity of the disease. This study investigated immune cell defects and functional impairment in patients with chronic hepatitis B (CHB). We analyzed the percentage, function, and phenotypes of various immune cell subpopulations in the peripheral blood along with the concentrations of cytokines in the plasma. We compared the results between patients with CHB and healthy individuals. It was found that in patients with CHB, the cell function was impaired and, there was increased expression of inhibitory receptors, such as NKG2A and PD-1 in both NK and T cells. The impairment of function was mainly in cytokine secretion, and the cytotoxicity was not significantly diminished. We also found that the proportion of dendritic cells (DC) decreased and regulatory B cells (Breg) increased in CHB. In addition, the Breg cells were negatively correlated with T cell cytokine and positively correlated with ALT and HBV viral load. Taken together, various disorders and functional impairments were found in the immune cells of peripheral blood in CHB patients, especially NK and T cells. These cells showed exhaustion and the increase of regulatory B cells may be one of the reasons for this phenomenon.
Authors
I am an author on this paper
Click your name to claim this paper and add it to your profile.
Reviews
Recommended
No Data Available