@article{Luo_Xin_Zhao_Jiang_2021, title={Effects of HBeAg Status on cellular immune function of patients with Hepatitis B virus/Treponema Pallidum Co-infection: Patients with HBV/TP Co-infection}, volume={37}, url={https://www.pjms.org.pk/index.php/pjms/article/view/4253}, DOI={10.12669/pjms.37.7.4253}, abstractNote={<p><em><strong>Objectives:</strong></em> This study was aimed at exploring the effects of hepatitis B envelope antigen (HBeAg) status on the cellular immune function of patients with hepatitis B virus/treponema pallidum (HBV/TP) co-infection.</p> <p><em><strong>Methods:</strong></em> The clinical data of 79 patients with HBV/TP co-infection admitted to our hospital from January 2019 to January 2020 were retrospectively analyzed. These patients were divided into two groups according to the different HBeAg statuses before the treatment: 41 HBeAg+ patients were included in the HBeAg+ group, while 38 HBeAg- patients were included in the HBeAg- group. The levels of HBV-DNA, T lymphocyte subsets represented by NK cells and cytokines associated with T cells in the peripheral blood (PB) of the patients were compared between both groups.</p> <p><em><strong>Results:</strong></em> The HBV-DNA levels in the HBeAg+ group were significantly higher than those in the HBeAg- group (P &lt; 0.05). The levels of CD3+, CD4+, CD4+/CD8+ and natural killer (NK) cells in the HBeAg+ group were higher than those in the HBeAg- group (P &lt; 0.05), while the levels of CD8+ cells were lower than those in the HBeAg- group (P &lt; 0.05). Moreover, the levels of interferon-γ (IFN-γ), tumor necrosis factor (TNF-α), interleukin-2 (IL-2), interleukin-6 (IL-6), interleukin-17 (IL-17), transforming growth factor-β (TGF-β) in the HBeAg+ group were all significantly higher than those in the HBeAg- group (P &lt; 0.05), but there was no significant difference in the levels of interleukin-4 (IL-4) and interleukin-10 (IL-10) between the HBeAg+ group and the HBeAg- group (P &gt; 0.05).</p> <p><em><strong>Conclusion:</strong></em> HBeAg+ can increase the HBV-DNA levels in the PB of patients with HBV/TP co-infection, in turn triggering the body to initiate cellular immunity, increasing the levels of T lymphocyte subsets, and promote the secretion of cytokines.</p> <p><strong>doi: https://doi.org/10.12669/pjms.37.7.4253</strong></p> <p><em><strong>How to cite this:</strong></em><br>Luo W, Xin H, Zhao P, Jiang S. Effects of HBeAg Status on cellular immune function of patients with Hepatitis B virus/Treponema Pallidum Co-infection. Pak J Med Sci. 2021;37(7):1871-1876. doi: https://doi.org/10.12669/pjms.37.7.4253</p> <p>This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.</p&gt;}, number={7}, journal={Pakistan Journal of Medical Sciences}, author={Luo, Wei and Xin, Hanxiao and Zhao, Pengyun and Jiang, Shasha}, year={2021}, month={Oct.} }