[Lymphocyte populations in patients with hepatitis caused by B virus: relation to other etiologies]

[Article in Spanish]

Carreno Garcia V, Gutiez Cuevas J, Mora Perez I, Porres Cubero JC, Hernandez Guio C.

Using monoclonal antibodies, the lymphocyte populations T3, T4 and T8 were determined in 92 patients: 25 asymptomatic AgHBs carriers (group I), 21 AgHBe and hepatitis B virus DNA polymerase (VBH-DNAp) positive chronic active hepatitis (HCA) (group II); 17 antiHBe positive chronic active hepatitis (group III), 14 antiHBe an/or antiHBc positive chronic active hepatitis (group IV), 10 chronic active hepatitis negative for all hepatitis B virus markers (group V) and 5 cases of acute hepatitis B. Twenty healthy subjects were included as a control group.

The lymphocyte distribution in group I was similar to that of the control group. Group II had a significantly lower T4/T8 coefficient than the control group (p<0.05), while the coefficient of group III was significantly higher (p<0.05). In the acute phase of infection with hepatitis B virus, the T4/T8 coefficient was significantly lower than that of the control group (p<0.01), tending to normality with the favorable course of the disease. With respect to AgHBs negative chronic active hepatitis, no differences were found between groups IV and V. Overall, the T4/T8 coefficient was superior to that of the control group and that of AgHBs positive chronic hepatitis (p<0.01), essentially because of a reduction in T8 lymphocytes.

In conclusion, study of the lymphocyte population in chronic hepatitis demonstrates the existence of differences in immune response with respect to disease etiology.