Analysis of liver function in hepatopath co-infectied with Epstein-Barr virus

Abstract:

Objective：To analyze the liver function manifestations of hepatopaths co-infectied with Epstein-Barr virus（EBV） and to explore the possible mechanism of EBV to aggravate liver function injury in hepatopaths. Methods：A total of 244 hepatopaths who screened by EBV nucleic acid detection，and the positive rate of EBV-DNA was determined. The patients were divided into groups by HBsAg，and the differences of liver function in patients with EBV infection complicated with HBsAg+ and HBsAg- liver disease were analyzed. Patients with unknown etiology of HBsAg+（n=45） and HBsAg-（n=69） were selected，and the influence of EBV infection on peripheral blood immune cells was analyzed by flow cytometry. Immunohistochemistry was used to evaluate the effect of EBV in－fection on immune cells in liver tissue of hepatopaths. Results：The detection rate of EBV-DNA+ in 244 cases of liver disease was 29.91%. In patients with HBsAg- and HBsAg+ liver injury，liver function of EBV+ was worse than that of EBV-，in which，aspartate aminotransferase（AST），alanine aminotransferase（ALT），and total bile acids（TBA） in patients with HBsAg- liver injury increased significantly（P<0.05）；AST，ALT，and γ-Glutamyl transaminase（γ-GGT） in patients with HBsAg+ liver injury increased significantly（P<0.01）. Flow cytometry showed that EBV significantly reduced the ratio of CD8+ T in peripheral blood and liver tissue between HBsAg- and HBsAg- patients. Compared with HBsAg-，EBV significantly reduced CD8+ T cells in HBsAg+ patients. Conclusion：EBV can aggravate liver function injury in hepatopaths，and the possible mechanism is that EBV consumes CD8+ T cells in peripheral circulation and liver tissue，which reduces the body’s resistance to hepatitis.