Aim: Cytokine profile in occult HBV infection (OBI) was systematically investigated to identify the immunopathogenesis of OBI. Materials & methods: A total of 46 OBI, ten asymptomatic hepatitis B surface antigen carriers, ten chronic hepatitis B and 12 healthy blood donors were recruited. A total of 21 plasma cytokines were detected. Results: Compared with healthy blood donors, elevated plasma Th1, Th2, Th17 and immune regulatory associated cytokines were observed in OBI. Almost no significant difference was found for these cytokines among OBI, asymptomatic hepatitis B surface antigen carriers and chronic hepatitis B. OBI displayed the predominance of type 2 and regulatory immunity. Conclusion: OBI displayed the general cytokine profile of chronic HBV infection, which might contribute to virus persistence and the presence of the liver microinflammatory environment. The clinical implications of OBI deserve more attention.

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Vol. 18, No. 3

Supplemental Materials

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History

Received 8 November 2022

Accepted 7 February 2023

Published online 3 March 2023

Published in print February 2023

Information

Keywords

Supplementary data

To view the supplementary data that accompany this paper please visit the journal website at: www.futuremedicine.com/doi/suppl/10.2217/fvl-2022-0193

Author contributions

Conceptualization: Q Wang, Q Hao and J Jiang. Experiments and data curation: Q Wang, H Qian and X Liu. Formal analysis: Q Wang, H Qian, X Liu and Q Hao. Software: X Liu. Resources: J Jiang. Writing - original draft: Q Wang and Q Hao. Writing – review & editing: Q Wang, H Qian, X Liu, Q Hao and J Jiang.

Acknowledgments

The authors gratefully acknowledge S Yuan and C Ye for the assistance in additional tests for the remaining plasma samples.

Financial & competing interests dislcosure

This study was funded by the programs sponsored by Natural Science Foundation of Wuxi, China (no. Y20212038), Science Foundation of Wuxi Healthy Committee (no. M202166), Science Foundation of Jiangsu Society of Blood Transfusion (no. JS2020019), and the Top Talent Support Program for Young and Middle-aged People of Wuxi Healthy Committee (no. HB2020101). The authors have no other relevant affiliations or financial involvement with any organization or entity with a financial interest in or financial conflict with the subject matter or materials discussed in the manuscript apart from those disclosed.

No writing assistance was utilized in the production of this manuscript.

Ethical conduct of research

The study was conducted in accordance with the Declaration of Helsinki and was approved by the Ethical Review Committee of Wuxi Blood Center, and informed written consent was obtained from all participants. The authors state that they have obtained appropriate institutional review board approval or have followed the principles outlined in the Declaration of Helsinki for all human or animal experimental investigations.

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Plasma cytokine profile in occult HBV-infected blood donors

Abstract

References