[Relationship between the quantities of peripheral dendritic cells and of serum HBV DNA and the inflammatory reaction levels in the liver].
OBJECTIVE
To investigate the relationship between the quantity of peripheral dendritic cell (DC) and of serum HBV DNA and the inflammatory level in chronic hepatitis B (CHB).


METHODS
The myeloid DC (DC1) and plasmacytoid DC (DC2) in fresh peripheral blood were enumerated by using three-color flow cytometry in chronic hepatitis B patients and healthy donors. The hepatic inflammatory levels were evaluated by percutaneous liver biopsy. The serum HBV DNA levels were determined by real-time PCR.


RESULTS
CHB patients with serum HBV DNA < or = 10(6) copies/ml exhibited a significant increase in the percentage of circulating DC2 in comparison with those of CHB patients with serum HBV DNA > or = 10(6) and with healthy donors (P < 0.05). The two latter groups showed no significant differences between each other. There was also no significant difference in the relative quantity of peripheral blood DC1 among the three groups mentioned above (P = 0.162). No evidence was found to support that the relative quantity of peripheral blood DC2 was associated with the clinical severity of the disease or the inflammatory level in the liver (P > 0.05).


CONCLUSIONS
The relative quantity of peripheral blood DC2 is associated with HBV DNA level. It is suggested that DC2 may play a pivotal role in inhibiting HBV replication in CHB patients. There was no relationship found between relative quantities of DCs and the inflammatory level in the liver.
Tianjin Municipal Infectious Disease Hospital, Tianjin 300192, China.
Bin
B
Gao
Hon-song
HS
Chen
Gui-ming
GM
Zhao
Ling
L
Zhu
Ying
Y
Ji
Ran
R
Fei
Chen-yang
CY
Dai
Jian
J
Xu
Li-min
LM
Zhu
Lai
L
Wei
D004279:DNA, Viral / Q000097:blood; D003713:Dendritic Cells / Q000166:cytology* / Q000276:immunology; D005260:Female; D006515:Hepatitis B virus / Q000502:physiology*; D019694:Hepatitis B, Chronic / Q000276:immunology* / Q000473:pathology / Q000821:virology; D006801:Humans; D008099:Liver / Q000473:pathology*; D008297:Male; D014779:Virus Replication
D004279:DNA, Viral