T lymphocyte subsets in peripheral blood of hepatitis B patients and its clinical signifi cance

Objective To observe the characteristics of T lymphocyte subsets in peripheral blood of hepatitis B patients. Methods Peripheral T-lymphocytes（CD45+CD3+, CD45+CD3+CD4+, CD45+CD3+CD8+）, B-lymphocytes（CD45+CD3-CD19+）, NKlymphocytes（CD45+CD3- CD16+56+） in 200 hepatitis B patients who visited our outpatient department in our hospital from June 2013 to November 2013 and in 50 healthy controls were detected by flow cytomentry. Results The total number of T lymphocytes and the number of CD4+ and CD8+T were significantly higher in acute hepatitis B patients than in healthy controls（P＜0.01）. The total number of T lymphocytes, the number of CD4+ and CD8+ T lymphocytes and the CD4+/CD8+ T lymphocytes ratio were significantly lower in chronic hepatitis B patients, cirrhotic patients and liver failure patients than in healthy controls（P＜0.01）. The percentage of CD4+ lymphocytes was significantly lower in chronic hepatitis B patients than in healthy controls and in cirrhotic patients than in chronic hepatitis B patients while the CD8+ T lymphocytes ratio was significantly higher in cirrhotic patients than in chronic hepatitis B patients and the T lymphocytes and CD4+ T lymphocytes ratio was significantly lower in liver failure patients than in cirrhotic patients（P＜0.01）. Conclusion The number of CD4+T lymphocytes and cellular immune function decrease in hepatitis B patients, thus inducing persistent HBV infection. Peripheral T lymphocyte subsets are closely related with the progress of disease.