Immunological observation of the efficacy of entecavir antiviral therapy in chronic hepatitis B virus carriers

Abstract:

Objective：To observe the efficacy of entecavir in the treatment of chronic hepatitis B virus carriers（CHBc） from the im－munological perspective and to provide the basis for the treatment of chronic hepatitis B virus carriers. Methods：Sixty-one chronic hepatitis B virus carriers were enrolled as experimental group，thirty chronic hepatitis B（CHB） were enrolled as positive control group，thirty healthy people were enrolled as normal control（NC） in this study. CHBc and CHB groups received entecavir for 24 weeks，while NC group did not receive any treatment. Peripheral blood samples were collected before and after 24 weeks entecavir treatment. The frequencies of Treg，Th17 cells were detected by flow cytometric analysis，and the levels of IL-10，TGF-β1 and IL-17 were detected by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay（ELISA）. Results：Before treatment，the ratio of Treg/Th17 in CHBc（18.58±10.79） group was higher than that in NC（6.26±3.29），CHB（2.68±1.39） groups（P=0.000），and NC group was higher than CHB（P=0.000） group. After 24 weeks entecavir treatment，the ratio of Treg/Th17 in CHBc and CHB groups decreased（P=0.000），and the CHBc（6.60±5.27） group was higher than that in NC（6.26±3.29），CHB（1.09±0.72） groups（P=0.000），and there was no sig－nificant difference between the NC and CHBc（P=0.986） groups. The ratio of Treg/Th17 in CHBc（r=0.827；r=0.353；r=0.391） and CHB（r=0.826；r=0.529；r=0.580） groups were positively correlated with HBV-DNA，HBsAg and HBeAg（P=0.000）. Conclusion：En－tecavir can regulate the immune response of chronic HBV carriers，reduce the ratio of Treg/Th17 and promote the clearance of HBV and HBV markers，forward may slow down the progress of liver fibrosis and cirrhosis. This study confirms that it is necessary for chronic HBV carriers to receive antiviral therapy，and the efficacy is good and safe.