IL-35 In HBV Related Chronic Liver Disease: Age And Gender Differences

AimsTo investigate the expression and clinical significance of serum inter leukin-35 (IL-35) in patients with HBV related chronic hepatitis (HBV-CH), liver cirrhosis (HBV-LC) and hepatocellular carcinoma (HBV-HC).BackgroundHepatitis B virus (HBV) infection has been a global public health problem for a long time. More than 400 million people are suffering from persistent HBV infection in the world. Chronic HBV infection is a serious clinical problem due to the potentially adverse sequelae, such as hepatic decompensation and the development of cirrhosis or hepatocellular carcinoma.Interleukin 35 (IL-35), a new IL-12 family cytokine, is a heterodimer that consists of the EBI3 protein and IL-12 p35 subunit. IL-35 is a novel inhibitory cytokines produced by regulatory T cell. Its primary physiological function may be to induce the formation of Thl cells and facilitate the proliferation of Treg cells, then, which can suppress immune reaction directly or indirectly.There is no comparative study of the expression levels of IL-35 in the PBMCs among patients of HBV-CH, HBV-LC and HBV-HC in China. The serum IL-35 were measured with Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). The aim of this study is to detect the different level of serum IL-35 among HBV-CH, HBV-LC and HBV-HC patients as well as compare its level in patients with different age and gender.MethodsA retrospective review of the clinical data in the Shengli Hospital of Shandong University from June 2015 to April 2016 were categorized into three groups: Group1:HBV-CH(50 patients); Group2:HBV-LC (50 patients), Group3: HBV-HC(50 patients with); and Group 4:50 healthy volunteers. Each group contained 25 male and 25 female subjects while 25 young (<30),25 middle-aged(31-59) and 25 old(≥60) subjects. The serum level of IL-35 in different groups were measured and compared with ELISA. The liver function such as ALT, AST, TBil, ALB and HBV DNA was analyzed. Graphpad prism 5.01 was used to create figures and analyze data.Results1. The serum level of IL-35 in patients with HBV-CH\HBV-LC\ HBV-HC were much higher than healthy volunteers and were gradually increased among the above 3 groups of patients.2. The serum level of IL-35 was significantly increased in old patients compared with young patients.3. The serum level of IL-35 was notably raised in female patients with menstruation over the female patients with menopause or male patients.ConclusionsThe level of IL-35 in HBV-infected patients was gradually increased as the disease development. And the age and gender difference may influence the expression of IL-35 in patients with HBV infection. These suggest that IL-35 might play an important role in the pathogenesis of HBV continuous infection and could provide a new idea for diagnosis of the level of HBV infection and for rescuing HBV infection by regulating IL-35.