title: Serum neopterin levels in patients with chronic hepatitis B.
abstract: The aim of this study was to determine the neopterin levels and peripheral blood lymphocyte subgroups in HBeAg-positive and -negative chronic hepatitis B patients. A total of 89 patients were included in the study. The mean serum neopterin level of patients with chronic hepatitis B was significantly higher than that of the control group. In HBeAg-positive chronic hepatitis B patients, the mean serum neopterin level was significantly higher than that of anti-HBeAb-positive patients. There was no significant correlation between the serum neopterin levels and alanine aminotransferase and HBV-DNA levels in HBeAg-positive chronic hepatitis B patients. There were no significant differences between the control subjects and patients with HBeAg-positive or anti-HBeAb-positive hepatitis in terms of the percentage of peripheral blood CD4+ or CD8+ or the ratio of CD4+/CD8+ lymphocytes. Our results suggest an association between elevated neopterin concentrations and HBeAg-positivity in patients with chronic hepatitis B. However, there appears to be no association between the neopterin levels and either hepatocyte damage or viral replication status.
authors.affiliation: Department of Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases, Firat University Faculty of Medicine, Elazig, Turkey.
authors.forename: Ahmet
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Kalkan
authors.forename: Mehmet
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Ozden
authors.forename: Handan
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Akbulut
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000410:Alanine Transaminase / Q000097:blood; D004279:DNA, Viral / Q000097:blood; D005260:Female; D006513:Hepatitis B e Antigens / Q000097:blood*; D019694:Hepatitis B, Chronic / Q000097:blood* / Q000276:immunology* / Q000821:virology; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D019798:Neopterin / Q000097:blood*; D016176:T-Lymphocyte Subsets; D019562:Viral Load
chemical_list: D004279:DNA, Viral; D006513:Hepatitis B e Antigens; D019798:Neopterin; D000410:Alanine Transaminase