The Level Of Regulatory T Cells And Relation Between Expression Of Foxp3 And CD127 In Peripheral Blood Of Chronic HBV Infection

Objective:To investigate the level of CD4+CD25+ Foxp3+ regulatory T cells in peripheral blood of chronic HBV infection,analyze the role of Treg in chronic HBV infection and it's relation with the progress of diseases by combining with the clinical data, and study the correlation between the two cell marker of CD127 and Foxp3.Methods:The samples of peripheral whole blood from 34 patients of immune tolerance stage,26 patients of immune clearance stage and 31 patients of non-active status were quantitatively analyzed by flow cytometry. The proportion of CD4+CD25+Foxp3+ and CD4+CD25+CD127low T cells were detected by gating delineated cell groups with fluorescein stain of cell surface and internal markers of CD4,CD25,Foxp3 and CD127.Results:1. The proportion of CD4+CD25+Foxp3+ T cells to CD4+ T cells of immune tolerance group(4.17±0.75)% was higher than that of non-active group(3.66±0.85)% (Z=-2.693,P=0.007);and HBV positive group(4.09±0.86)% also presented a higher proportion than non-active group(3.66±0.85)%(t=2.266,P=0.026);But the proportion of ALT normal group was similar to that of ALT abnormal group,(3.99±1.00)% and (3.93±0.83)% (P>0.05),so did the two groups of immune clearance group subdivided according to different levels of ALT(>80 U/L,n=17,(4.06±1.05)% and <80 U/L,n=9, (3.87±0.93)%, P>0.05) .2. The proportions of CD4+CD25+ CD127low T cells to CD4+ T cells of immune tolerance group(4.91±0.92)% and immune clearance group(4.94±1.34)% were higher than that of non-active group(4.19±0.86)% (t=3.251,P=0.002 and t=2.558,P=0.013);and HBV positive group(4.93±1.11)% also presented a higher proportion than non-active group(4.19±0.86)%(t=3.208,P=0.002);But the proportion of ALT normal group was similar to ALT abnormal group,(4.94±1.34)% and (4.57 ±0.95)% (P>0.05),so did the two groups of immune clearance group subdivided according to different levels of ALT(>80 U/L,n=17,(4.93±1.48)% and <80 U/L,n=9,(4.98±1.11)%, P>0.05) .3. All the patients were divided into two groups according to the measures used to detect the proportion of Treg, result showed that the proportion detected by CD4+CD25+Foxp3+(3.95±0.88)% was significant less than that detected by CD4+CD25+CD127low(4.68±1.08)%(Z=-4.718,P<0.001).Conclusion:The level of CD4+CD25+ Treg in HBV active replication group was higher than that of HBV negative group,and it showed uncorrelated with the level of ALT.The Expression of CD127low is consistent with Foxp3+ in CD4+CD25+ regulatory T cells,but the frequency of the former is significant higher than the later.