Comparison of cellular immunity in patients with chronic hepatitis B, inactive hepatitis B surface antigen carriers and spontaneously recovered individuals

Different clinical outcomes of acute HBV infection have been partially explained by individual differences in immune response. In this study we investigated interferon gamma (IFN-γ) secretion of peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) in vitro against specific (Hepatitis B core antigen; recombinant HB-cAg) and non-specific (CMV, EBV, Influenza peptide pool; CTL CEF peptide pool "plus") antigens using enzyme linked immunospot (ELISPOT) assay in 7 patients with chronic hepatitis B (CHB group), 8 inactive carriers Of HBV (carrier group) and 8 subjects who spontaneously recovered from acute HBV infection as detected by anti-HBs positivity (immune group). Phytohemaglutinin served as the positive test control. Response against recombinant HBcAg was 88±135, 50±110, 105±150 spot forming cell (SFC)/10(5) PBMC, in CHB, carrier and immune groups, respectively. HBcAg-specific T-cell response was slightly higher in the immune group; however, statistically there was no significant difference between the groups. Assessment of cellular immunity by IFN-γ ELISPOT was not sufficient to explain the various outcomes of HBV infection such as resolution, chronicity and carriership.