Department of Hepatology Division 2, Beijing Ditan Hospital, Capital Medical University, No. 8 Jingshun East Street, Chaoyang District, Beijing, 100015, China.
Institute of Infectious Diseases, Beijing Ditan Hospital, Beijing Key Laboratory of Emerging Infectious Diseases, Capital Medical University, No. 8 Jingshun East Street, Chaoyang District, Beijing, 100015, China.
BMC Infect Dis. 2020 Aug 10;20(1):590. doi: 10.1186/s12879-020-05320-z.
Antiviral therapy is recommended for patients with immune-active chronic hepatitis B (CHB) to decrease the risk of liver-related complications. However, the outcomes of the pegylated IFN-α (PEG-IFN-α) therapy vary among CHB patients. We aimed to identify factors that can influence the outcomes in CHB patients who received antiviral PEG-IFN-α monotherapy.
Thirty-two CHB patients who received PEG-IFN-α monotherapy were enrolled in this study. All of the patients underwent two liver biopsies at baseline and 6 months after the initiation of the therapy. CD8 T cells, CD4 T cells, CD68 mononuclear cells, and PD-1 levels in the 64 liver biopsy specimens were examined via immunofluorescence.
The overall median frequency of CD8 T cells in the liver tissues of 32 CHB patients significantly decreased at 6 months after the therapy initiation (p < 0.01). In the FIER (fibrosis and inflammation response with HBeAg seroconversion) group, CD8PD-1 T cells significantly decreased at 6 months (p < 0.05), while CD8PD-1 T cells had no significant difference. On the contrary, in the FIENR (no fibrosis and inflammation response and HBeAg seroconversion) group, CD8PD-1 T cells significantly decreased after 6 months of PEG-IFN-α treatment (p < 0.05), while CD8PD-1 T cells had no significant difference. In addition, the levels of CD68 mononuclear cells in the FIER group showed an overall increasing trend after treatment (p < 0.05).
The changes in the levels of CD8PD-1 T cells and CD68 mononuclear cells may be related to the response to PEG-IFN-α therapy.
抗病毒治疗被推荐用于免疫活性慢性乙型肝炎（CHB）患者，以降低肝脏相关并发症的风险。然而，聚乙二醇干扰素-α（PEG-IFN-α）治疗的结果在 CHB 患者中有所不同。我们旨在确定影响接受抗病毒 PEG-IFN-α单药治疗的 CHB 患者结局的因素。
本研究纳入了 32 例接受 PEG-IFN-α 单药治疗的 CHB 患者。所有患者在基线和治疗开始后 6 个月时均进行了两次肝活检。通过免疫荧光法检测 64 份肝活检标本中的 CD8 T 细胞、CD4 T 细胞、CD68 单核细胞和 PD-1 水平。
32 例 CHB 患者肝组织中 CD8 T 细胞的总体中位数频率在治疗开始后 6 个月时显著降低（p<0.01）。在 FIER（纤维化和炎症反应与 HBeAg 血清转换）组中，CD8PD-1 T 细胞在 6 个月时显著降低（p<0.05），而 CD8PD-1 T 细胞无显著差异。相反，在 FIENR（无纤维化和炎症反应及 HBeAg 血清转换）组中，CD8PD-1 T 细胞在接受 PEG-IFN-α 治疗 6 个月后显著降低（p<0.05），而 CD8PD-1 T 细胞无显著差异。此外，FIER 组的 CD68 单核细胞水平在治疗后呈总体上升趋势（p<0.05）。
CD8PD-1 T 细胞和 CD68 单核细胞水平的变化可能与 PEG-IFN-α 治疗的反应有关。
