Department of Gastroenterology and Hepatology, Antwerp University Hospital, Wilrijkstraat 10, 2650 Antwerp, Belgium; Laboratory of Experimental Medicine and Paediatrics, Antwerp University, Universiteitsplein 1, 2610 Antwerp, Belgium.
Department of Biomedical Sciences, Institute of Tropical Medicine, Kronenburgstraat 43, 2000 Antwerp, Belgium; Department of Mathematics and Computer Science, University of Antwerp, Middelheimlaan 1, 2020 Antwerp, Belgium.
Cell Immunol. 2021 Apr;362:104283. doi: 10.1016/j.cellimm.2021.104283. Epub 2021 Jan 9.
The natural course of chronic hepatitis B virus (HBV) infections follows distinct clinical disease phases, characterized by fluctuating levels of serum HBV DNA and ALT. The immune cells and their features that govern these clinical disease transitions remain unknown. In the current study, we performed RNA sequencing on purified B cells from blood (n = 42) and liver (n = 10) of healthy controls and chronic HBV patients. We found distinct gene expression profiles between healthy controls and chronic HBV patients, as evidenced by 190 differentially expressed genes (DEG), but also between the clinical phenotypes of a chronic HBV infection (17-110 DEG between each phase). Numerous immune pathways, including the B cell receptor pathway were upregulated in liver B cells when compared to peripheral B cells. Further investigation of the detected DEG suggested an activation of B cells during HBeAg seroconversion and an active regulation of B cell signalling in the liver.
慢性乙型肝炎病毒 (HBV) 感染的自然病程遵循明显的临床疾病阶段，其特征是血清 HBV DNA 和 ALT 水平波动。控制这些临床疾病转变的免疫细胞及其特征尚不清楚。在本研究中，我们对来自健康对照者和慢性 HBV 患者的血液 (n=42) 和肝脏 (n=10) 的纯化 B 细胞进行了 RNA 测序。我们发现健康对照者和慢性 HBV 患者之间存在明显的基因表达谱差异，这一点可以通过 190 个差异表达基因 (DEG) 得到证明，而在慢性 HBV 感染的临床表型之间也存在差异 (各阶段之间有 17-110 个 DEG)。与外周 B 细胞相比，肝脏 B 细胞中包括 B 细胞受体途径在内的许多免疫途径上调。对检测到的 DEG 的进一步研究表明，在 HBeAg 血清转换期间 B 细胞被激活，并且在肝脏中 B 细胞信号转导受到积极调节。
