Impact of pegylated interferon versus conventional interferon on the change in peripheral CD4+CD25highT cells in patients with chronic hepatitis B

Objective To investigate the impact of pegylated interferon alpha-2 a ( PEG-IFNα-2 a) versus conventional interferon alpha-2 b ( IFNα-2 b) on the change in peripheral CD4+CD25high T cells in patients with chronic hepatitis B ( CHB) . Methods A total of 72 HBeAg-positive CHB patients who received interferon antiviral therapy in the Fifth People' s Hospital of Suzhou from June 2012 to June 2015 were enrolled, and according to the therapy selected by the patient, these patients were divided into PEG-IFNα-2 a group with 40 patients and IFNα-2 b group with 32 patients. The course of the interferon antiviral therapy was one year at least. The anticoagulant peripheral venous blood samples were collected before treatment and at month 12 of treatment. Another 30 healthy individuals were enrolled as controls. Flow cytometry was used to measure the percentage of peripheral CD4+CD25high T cells. A one-way analysis of variance was used for comparison of normally distributed continuous data between multiple groups, and the Mann-Whitney U test was used for comparison of non-normally distributed continuous data between two independent samples; the Wilcoxon rank-sum test was used for comparison of paired data. The chi-square test or Fisher's exact test was used for comparison of categorical data between groups. Results At month 12 of treatment, there were 26 valid cases in the IFNα-2 b group and 32 valid cases in the PEG-IFNα-2 a group. There were no significant differences between the two groups in normalization rate of alanine aminotransferase, HBeAg seroconversion rate, and HBV DNA clearance rate ( P > 0. 05, P = 0. 05, P = 0. 47) . Before treatment, the IFNα-2 b group and the PEG-IFNα-2 a group had a significantly higher median percentage of peripheral CD4+CD25high T cells than the healthy control group ( U = 235. 5 and 238. 0, both P < 0. 05) . The PEG-IFNα-2 a group had a significant reduction in the median percentage of peripheral CD4+CD25high T cells at month 12 of interferon therapy ( Z =-2. 515, P = 0. 012) . As for the patients who achieved seroconversion of HBeAg, the IFNα-2 b group and the PEG-IFNα-2 a group had a significant reduction in peripheral CD4+CD25high T cells ( U = 121. 0 and 204. 5, both P < 0. 05) , while there was no significant difference between these two groups ( P > 0. 05) ; there was also no significant difference between these two groups and the healthy control group ( both P > 0. 05) . Conclusion Interferon antiviral therapy can reduce the percentage of peripheral CD4+CD25high T cells, and compared with IFNα-2 b, PEG-IFNα-2 a has a stronger effect in downregulating CD4+CD25high T cells; however, in patients who achieve seroconversion of HBeAg, PEG-IFNα-2 a and IFNα-2 b have a similar effect in downregulating CD4+CD25high T cells.