Predictive value of plasmacytoid dendritic cells and Toll-like receptor-9 regarding the treatment efficacy of interferon-[alpha] in HBeAg-positive chronic hepatitis B patients

Hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection represents a public health threat and a challenge for the medical community. Untimely treatment may lead to liver cirrhosis and even liver cancer. At present, the major treatment for hepatitis B e antigen (HBeAg)-positive chronic hepatitis B patients includes admini...

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Published inExperimental and therapeutic medicine Vol. 18; no. 6; p. 4541
Main Authors Chen, Yue, Yang, Jia-En, Tang, Jing-Mo, Mao, Qian-Guo, Zheng, Qi-Zhong, Zheng, Ying
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Spandidos Publications 01.12.2019
Subjects
Antigens
Antiviral agents
Biological response modifiers
Dendritic cells
DNA
Drug therapy
EDTA
Health aspects
Hepatitis B
Hepatitis B virus
Immunoglobulins
Immunohistochemistry
Infection
Interferon
Liver
Liver cancer
Liver cirrhosis
Medical research
Messenger RNA
Polymerase chain reaction
Public health
Public health movements
RNA
China
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Summary:Hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection represents a public health threat and a challenge for the medical community. Untimely treatment may lead to liver cirrhosis and even liver cancer. At present, the major treatment for hepatitis B e antigen (HBeAg)-positive chronic hepatitis B patients includes administration of interferon-[alpha] (IFN-[alpha]), which has anti-viral and immunomodulatory effects. Plasmacytoid dendritic cells (pDCs) and Toll-like receptor-9 (TLR-9) have important roles in anti-viral therapy. However, their predictive value regarding the efficacy of IFN-[alpha] treatment of HBeAg-positive chronic hepatitis B (CHB) patients has remained elusive. A total of 178 patients with CHB and HBeAg-positive status, who had not received any previous anti-HBV treatment, were enrolled in the present study. All patients were treated with IFN-[alpha]. HBV DNA load, hepatitis B surface antigen and serum alanine aminotransferase were measured prior to and following 48 weeks of treatment. According to HBV levels, the patients were divided into a response group and non-responders group. To determine the amount of pDCs, blood dendritic cell antigen 2 (BDCA-2)- and immunoglobulin-like transcript 7 (ILT7)-expressing cells in liver biopsies were detected using immunohistochemistry. TLR-9 expression in peripheral blood mononuclear cells was determined by reverse transcription-quantitative PCR. There was no significant difference in the proportion of pDCs (BDCA-2; ILT7) and TLR-9 mRNA expression between the response group and the non-responders group prior to IFN-[alpha] treatment. After IFN-[alpha] treatment, BDCA-2, ILT7 and TLR-9 mRNA expression was obviously increased in the response group compared with that in the non-responders group (P<0.05). Increased expression of BDCA-2, ILT7 and TLR-9 mRNA was negatively correlated with HBV DNA (P<0.05). Increased levels of pDCs and TLR-9 were negatively correlated with HBV DNA, and were thus capable of predicting the IFN-[alpha] treatment response in patients with CHB and HBeAg-positive status. Key words: plasmacytoid dendritic cells, Toll-like receptor 9, hepatitis B virus, hepatitis B e antigen, efficacy, predict
ISSN:1792-0981
DOI:10.3892/etm.2019.8161