• Xue-Ping Nan, Ye Zhang, Hai-Tao Yu, Yu Li, Rui-Lin Sun, Jiu-Ping Wang, and Xue-Fan Bai.
• Center of Infectious Diseases, Tangdu Hospital, the Fourth Military Medical University, Xi'an, China.
• Viral Immunol. 2010 Feb 1; 23 (1): 63-70.

AbstractThe roles of regulatory T cells (Tregs) and PD-1 in hepatitis B have not been clearly described. Also, the role of B and T lymphocyte attenuator (BTLA), which serves as a negative regulator of T-cell activation, is still unknown in hepatitis B. In this study, we analyzed the frequency of circulating CD4(+)CD25(high) Tregs in patients with chronic hepatitis B (CHB), and subsequently investigated expression of PD-1 and BTLA on CD4(+) T cells, as well as their relationships with the clinical index of CHB patients. A total of 39 CHB patients and 19 healthy persons as controls were enrolled in the study. We found that the frequency of CD4(+)CD25(high) Tregs and PD-1 expression on CD4(+) T cells was significantly increased in CHB patients compared with normal controls. However, BTLA expression on CD4(+) T cells showed no significant difference between the two groups. The frequency of Tregs was significantly higher in patients with HBV DNA titers >or=10(8) than in those with HBV DNA titers <10(8). Circulating CD4(+)CD25(high) Treg frequency and PD-1 expression on CD4(+) T cells correlated positively with serum HBV DNA load in CHB patients. Our findings suggest that the increased frequency of CD4(+)CD25(high) Tregs and PD-1 expression on CD4(+) T lymphocytes may inhibit the cellular immune response against HBV and affect viral clearance, leading to the persistence of chronic HBV infection.

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