Journal of Inflammation Research (Sep 2024)
Nucleos(T)ide Analogue Treatment Has a More Pronounced Impact on Immune Repertoires of CHB Patients Compared to HCC Patients
Abstract
Guojun Shen,1,* Xueying Li,2,3,* Anqi Zheng,2 Mingxing Gong,4 Zhanhui Wang,2 Baolin Liao5 1Hepatology Unit, the Third People′s Hospital of Jiujiang City, Jiujiang, People’s Republic of China; 2Department of Infectious Diseases, Nanfang Hospital, Southern Medical University, Guangzhou, People’s Republic of China; 3Department of Gastroenterology, Shenzhen Qianhai Taikang Hospital, Shenzhen, People’s Republic of China; 4Department of Infectious Diseases, Guangzhou First People’s Hospital, School of Medicine, South China University of Technology, Guangzhou, People’s Republic of China; 5Department of Hepatology, Guangzhou Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases, Guangzhou Eighth People’s Hospital, Guangzhou Medical University, Guangzhou, People’s Republic of China*These authors contributed equally to this workCorrespondence: Baolin Liao, Department of Hepatology, Guangzhou Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases, Guangzhou Eighth People’s Hospital, Guangzhou Medical University, No. 8 Huaying Road, Guangzhou, 510440, People’s Republic of China, Email [email protected] Zhanhui Wang, Department of Infectious Diseases, Nanfang Hospital, Southern Medical University, No. 1838 North Guangzhou Blvd, Guangzhou, 510515, People’s Republic of China, Email [email protected]: Nucleos(t)ide analogues (NAs) as the first-line treatment for chronic hepatitis B (CHB) have been shown to partially restore the antiviral immunity of the patients. However, hepatitis B virus (HBV) related hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) patients have a relatively longer duration of HBV infection and lower level of HBV DNA. Whether NAs treatments have a different effect on their immune repertoires between CHB and HCC patients remains to be determined.Patients and Methods: In this study, 126 CHB patients and 85 HBV-related HCC patients who received or did not receive NAs treatment, as well as 361 healthy individuals were enrolled to analyze the effect of NAs treatment on T cell receptor β chain (TCRβ) and B cell receptor heavy chain (BCRh) repertoires in peripheral blood of the patients.Results: We found that after NAs therapy, the richness and evenness of TCRβ and BCRh repertoires in CHB patients were significantly lower than those in untreated patients and healthy controls, while the diversity of TCRβ and BCRh repertoires was stable in HCC patients. The alanine aminotransferase and HBV DNA levels were not correlated with the TCR or BCR diversity in CHB and HCC patients.Conclusion: The results suggest that NAs therapy could influence the overall T cell and B cell repertoires diversity in CHB patients but has minimal impact on HCC patients, indicating a significant difference in the potential to restore antiviral immunity between CHB and HCC patients by NAs treatment.Keywords: chronic hepatitis B, Nucleos(t)ide analogue, T cell receptor, immune repertoire, hepatocellular carcinoma
