[Expression of intrahepatic CD4+ CD25+ regulatory T cells in patients with chronic hepatitis B].
OBJECTIVE
To investigate the expression and distribution of intrahepatic CD4+ CD25+ regulatory T cells in immuno-tolerant and immuno-clearance phase of patients with chronic hepatitis B.


METHODS
The expression of FoxP3 was detected in 19 cases of immuno-tolerant phase and 12 cases of immuno-clearance phase by immunohistochemistry. The relation between the intrahepatic expression of FoxP3 and the clinicopathological features were analyzed.


RESULTS
The positive signal of FoxP3 is located in nuclear of lymphocyte and mainly aggregated in portal areas as well as occasionally scattered in hepatic sinusoids. The expression of intrahepatic FoxP3 in the group of immuno-tolerant phase was significantly increased than those in normal control (P < 0.01), and greatly decreased than those in immuno-clearance phase (P < 0.01). No correlation was observed among the expression of intrahepatic FoxP3, ALT, levels of HBV DNA, HBeAg positive, in patients of immuno-clearance phase, respectively. There were significant differences between immuno-tolerant phase and immuno-clearance phase age, ALT, TBIL, PTA, HBV-DNA and detection of HBeAg but not in sex and family history of HBV infection.


CONCLUSIONS
CD4+ CD25+ regulatory T cells may play important roles in the clearance of HBV as well as in liver inflammation and injury during chronic HBV infection.
Yang
Yu-Ying
YY
Ditan Hospital, Bejing 100011, China.
Lang
Zhen-Wei
ZW
Lan
Meng-Dong
MD
Shi
Xiao-Hong
XH
Ma
Pei-Qing
PQ
Shen
Bing
B
Wang
Pei-Zhi
PZ
Xu
Dao-Zhen
DZ
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D015704:CD4 Antigens / Q000276:immunology*; D005260:Female; D051858:Forkhead Transcription Factors / Q000235:genetics* / Q000276:immunology; D015870:Gene Expression; D006515:Hepatitis B virus / Q000276:immunology; D019694:Hepatitis B, Chronic / Q000235:genetics / Q000276:immunology* / Q000821:virology; D006801:Humans; D053645:Interleukin-2 Receptor alpha Subunit / Q000276:immunology*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D050378:T-Lymphocytes, Regulatory / Q000276:immunology*; D055815:Young Adult
D015704:CD4 Antigens; C418974:FOXP3 protein, human; D051858:Forkhead Transcription Factors; D053645:Interleukin-2 Receptor alpha Subunit