title: Lymphocyte transformation in patients with HBsAg-positive chronic hepatitis, liver cirrhosis, and hepatocellular carcinoma.
abstract: To evaluate cellular immunity, mitogen-induced lymphocyte transformation was assessed in 146 patients with chronic hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection, including 63 patients with chronic hepatitis (CH), 34 with liver cirrhosis (LC), and 49 patients combined with liver cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). The PHA-induced transformation indices (TI) were lower in patients with chronic HBV infection, especially in the LC and the HCC groups. The Con A-induced TI were also diminished in patients with chronic HBV infection. The mitogen-induced TI in patients with CH showed no significant difference in regards to different histological patterns, HBeAg/anti-HBe statuses, sex groups, age distributions, and SGPT levels. However, the mitogen-induced TI were substantially higher in CH patients with elevated serum AFP levels, especially in the group with AFP levels over 100 ng/ml. From these data, we conclude that: (1) impaired PHA-induced TI in patients with LC may partly explain the high risk factor of LC in the occurrence of HCC; (2) the reduction in TI induced by optimal concentration of Con A reflects the defective suppressor cell activity in patients with chronic HBV infection, even in patients with HCC; (3) no significant difference among the control group and patients with chronic HBV infection in PWM-induced TI implies that the response of B cells may be normal in patients with chronic HBV infection; (4) elevated mitogen-induced TI in CH patients with high AFP levels indicate that the activation of lymphocyte may contribute to the severity of inflammation and tissue damage.
authors.forename: W L
authors.initials: WL
authors.lastname: Chuang
authors.forename: W Y
authors.initials: WY
authors.lastname: Chang
authors.forename: L Y
authors.initials: LY
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: J F
authors.initials: JF
authors.lastname: Tsai
authors.forename: M Y
authors.initials: MY
authors.lastname: Hsieh
authors.forename: S C
authors.initials: SC
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.forename: W
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Chiang
authors.forename: W J
authors.initials: WJ
authors.lastname: Liu
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D006528:Carcinoma, Hepatocellular / Q000276:immunology*; D002908:Chronic Disease; D005260:Female; D006509:Hepatitis B / Q000276:immunology*; D006514:Hepatitis B Surface Antigens / Q000032:analysis*; D006801:Humans; D008103:Liver Cirrhosis / Q000276:immunology*; D008113:Liver Neoplasms / Q000276:immunology*; D008213:Lymphocyte Activation; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged
chemical_list: D006514:Hepatitis B Surface Antigens