[Quantitive changes of circulating myeloid and plasmacytoid dendritic cell subsets in HBV infected patients during different periods of their infection].
OBJECTIVE
To study the quantities of myeloid and plasmacytoid dendritic cell (mDC, pDC) subsets associated with different blood virus loads (HBV DNA) in patients in different periods of HBV infection (immune tolerance, immune activities and non-replicating periods).


METHODS
Thirty HBV infected patients in different stages of infection were enrolled. They were divided into three groups: an immune tolerance group (10 cases), an immunization activities group (10 cases), and a non-replication group (10 cases). Ten healthy people were enrolled and served as controls. Blood (10 ml) from the patients and the controls were collected and the numbers of dendritic cells (DC) in percentage were counted using flow cytometry. The numbers of mDC and pDC were counted and the relevance of them with their blood virus loads (HBV DNA) was analyzed using statistical methods.


RESULTS
(1) Absolute values of mDC, pDC percentage and pDC absolute value of the HBV infected patients were lower than those of the healthy control group (P less than 0.05). mDC percentage of the HBV infected patients was a little lower than that of the healthy controls but of no statistical significance (P more than 0.05). (2) The percentage of mDC in the healthy controls was higher than that in the tolerance group (P less than 0.05) and its absolute value in the healthy control group was higher than those in the immune tolerance group and the immune activities group (P less than 0.05). pDC percentage of the healthy control group was higher than those of the immune activities and non-reproduction groups (P less than 0.05). pDC absolute value of the healthy control group was higher than those of the immune tolerance, immune activities and non-reproduction groups (P less than 0.05). (3) The pDC counts in the tolerance group were negatively correlated with HBV DNA levels (r = -0.686, P less than 0.05).


CONCLUSIONS
(1) DC frequency and counts of HBV infected patients in different periods decreased. The immune active group decreased significantly more than the healthy control group (P less than 0.05). (2) pDC counts show a negative correlation with HBV DNA levels in only the tolerance group.
Dong
Jin-Ling
JL
Beijing You'an Hospital, Capital Medical University, Beijing 100069, China.
Ma
Li-Na
LN
Geng
Nan
N
D000328:Adult; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D002452:Cell Count; D004279:DNA, Viral / Q000097:blood; D003713:Dendritic Cells; D005260:Female; D005434:Flow Cytometry; D006509:Hepatitis B / Q000097:blood / Q000276:immunology*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D019562:Viral Load; D055815:Young Adult
D004279:DNA, Viral