Gu Yurong, Bi Yanhua, Huang Zexuan, Liao Chunhong, Li Xiaoyan, Hu Hao, Xie Huaping, Huang Yuehua
Department of Infectious Diseases, the Third Affiliated Hospital of Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou, China.
Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Liver Disease Research, The Third Affiliated Hospital of Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou, China.
Ann Lab Med. 2025 Mar 1;45(2):185-198. doi: 10.3343/alm.2024.0178. Epub 2024 Dec 20.
The function of CD69 expressed on T cells in chronic hepatitis B (CHB) remains unclear. We aimed to elucidate the roles of CD69 on T cells in the disease process and in antiviral therapy for CHB.
We enrolled 335 treatment-naive patients with CHB and 93 patients with CHB on antiviral therapy. CD69, antiviral cytokine production by T cells, T-helper (Th) cells, and inhibitory molecules of T cells were measured using flow cytometry, and clinical-virological characteristics were examined dynamically during antiviral therapy.
CD69 expression on CD3+, CD4+, and CD8+ T cells was the lowest in the immune-active phase and was negatively correlated with liver transaminase activity, fibrosis features, inflammatory cytokine production by T cells, and Th-cell frequencies but positively with inhibitory molecules on T cells. CD69 expression on CD3+, CD4+, and CD8+ T cells decreased after 48 weeks of antiviral therapy, and patients with hepatitis B e antigen (HBeAg) seroconversion in week 48 showed lower CD69 expression on T cells at baseline and week 48. The area under the ROC curve of CD69 expression on T cells at baseline for predicting HBeAg seroconversion in week 48 was 0.870, the sensitivity was 0.909, and the specificity was 0.714 ( =0.002).
CD69 negatively regulates T-cell immunity during CHB, and its expression decreases with antiviral therapy. CD69 expression predicts HBeAg seroconversion in week 48. CD69 may play an important negative role in regulating T cells and affect the efficacy of antiviral therapy.
慢性乙型肝炎（CHB）中T细胞上表达的CD69的功能仍不清楚。我们旨在阐明CD69在T细胞上在该疾病进程以及CHB抗病毒治疗中的作用。
我们纳入了335例未经治疗的CHB患者和93例正在接受抗病毒治疗的CHB患者。使用流式细胞术检测CD69、T细胞产生的抗病毒细胞因子、辅助性T（Th）细胞以及T细胞的抑制分子，并在抗病毒治疗期间动态检查临床病毒学特征。
CD3⁺、CD4⁺和CD8⁺T细胞上的CD69表达在免疫活跃期最低，并且与肝转氨酶活性、纤维化特征、T细胞产生的炎性细胞因子以及Th细胞频率呈负相关，但与T细胞上的抑制分子呈正相关。抗病毒治疗48周后，CD3⁺、CD4⁺和CD8⁺T细胞上的CD69表达下降，并且在第48周发生乙肝e抗原（HBeAg）血清学转换的患者在基线和第48周时T细胞上的CD69表达较低。基线时T细胞上CD69表达用于预测第48周HBeAg血清学转换的ROC曲线下面积为0.870，敏感性为0.909
