Hepatitis B virus DNA is more powerful than HBeAg in predicting peripheral T-lymphocyte subpopulations in chronic HBV-infected individuals with normal liver function tests

Table 1 Characteristics of chronic HBV-infected individuals with normal liver function tests

Characteristics	All individuals	Maternal HBV-infection status (MH)
	(n = 216)	Individuals with MH (n = 129)	Individuals without MH (n = 87)	P
Sex (male/female)	125/91	75/54	50/37	0.9221
Mean age (yr)	31.53 ± 11.23	29.11 ± 11.44	35.13 ± 9.94	< 0.0012
Age of HBV-infection (yr) (%)				< 0.0011
< 8	80 (37.0)	62 (48.1)	18 (20.7)
8-20	56 (25.9)	36 (27.9)	20 (23.0)
> 20	58 (26.9)	21 (16.3)	37 (42.5)
Unknown	22 (10.2)	10 (7.8)	12 (13.8)
HBV DNA positive (%)	136 (63.0)	106 (82.2)	30 (34.5)	< 0.0011
Serum HBV DNA (copies/mL) (%)				< 0.0011
≤ 1.0 × 103	80 (37.0)	23 (17.8)	57 (65.5)
1.0 × 103-1.0 × 105	14 (6.5)	5 (3.9)	9 (10.3)
1.0 × 105-1.0 × 107	29 (13.4)	17 (13.2)	12 (13.8)
> 1.0 × 107	93 (43.1)	84 (65.1)	9 (10.3)
HBV DNA load (log, copies/mL)	5.90 ± 2.61	7.13 ± 2.36	4.07 ± 1.74	< 0.0012
HBeAg positive (%)	122 (56.5)	97 (75.2)	25 (28.7)	< 0.0011

¹Chi-square test P value;

²Student t test P value; HBV: Hepatitis B virus; MH: Maternal HBV-infection status.

Table 2 Peripheral T-cell subsets in normal control and CHI individuals broken down by various factors (mean ± SD)

Groups	n	CD3+ (%)	CD4+ (%)	CD8+ (%)	CD4+/CD8+ ratio
HBV status1
Negative	100	71.07 ± 4.76	38.94 ± 3.39	24.02 ± 4.35	1.67 ± 0.33
Positive	216	57.35 ± 13.81	32.97 ± 7.00	33.08 ± 7.99	1.07 ± 0.41
Maternal HBV-infection status1
Negative	87	64.67 ± 10.74	35.75 ± 6.08	28.71 ± 5.56	1.29 ± 0.35
Positive	129	52.42 ± 13.49	31.10 ± 6.98	36.03 ± 8.04	0.93 ± 0.38
Age at HBV-infection (yr)
< 8	80	66.35 ± 8.19	30.78 ± 7.03	35.36 ± 7.12	0.91 ± 0.30
8-20	56	66.46 ± 9.33	31.65 ± 5.06	35.80 ± 7.79	0.93 ± 0.28
> 20	58	69.35 ± 9.85	36.37 ± 7.31df	28.22 ± 7.11dh	1.37 ± 0.46dh
Unknown	22	69.35 ± 9.85	35.35 ± 6.62a	30.69 ± 7.48bf	1.24 ± 0.46af
HBV DNA load (copies/mL)2
≤ 1.0 × 103	80	65.84 ± 9.39	37.11 ± 6.29	28.12 ± 5.65	1.38 ± 0.40
1.0 × 103-1.0 × 105	14	65.36 ± 5.15	34.70 ± 2.79	28.66 ± 6.21	1.28 ± 0.38
1.0 × 105-1.0 × 107	29	66.20 ± 9.99	33.66 ± 6.39	32.40 ± 6.54	1.06 ± 0.24
> 1.0 × 107	93	46.09 ± 10.52	28.94 ± 5.95	38.23 ± 7.21	0.79 ± 0.22
HBeAg status1
Negative	94	64.45 ± 10.44	35.81 ± 6.69	29.05 ± 6.43	1.30 ± 0.42
Positive	122	51.89 ± 13.63	30.78 ± 6.46	36.19 ± 7.69	0.89 ± 0.31

¹P < 0.001 for all comparisons of +ve vs -ve for each measure and each T-cell parameter;

²P < 0.01 for ANOVA linear trend test;

^aP < 0.05,

^bP < 0.01,

^dP < 0.001 vs < 8 yr group;

^fP < 0.01,

^hP < 0.001 vs 8-20 yr group.

Table 3 Multiple linear regression predicting peripheral blood T lymphocyte subpopulation (n = 216)

	CD3+ T lymphocyte			CD4+ T lymphocyte			CD8+ T lymphocyte			CD4+/CD8+ ratio
	β	SE	P	β	SE	P	β	SE	P	β	SE	P
Intercept	79.54	3.03	-	40.09	1.78	-	25.78	1.88	-	1.5	0.09	-
Serum HBV load (log, copies/mL)1	-3.65	0.43	< 0.0001	-1.38	0.25	< 0.0001	1.36	0.26	< 0.0001	-0.08	0.01	< 0.0001
HBeAg negative	0.05	1.98	0.98	0.61	1.16	0.6	0.5	1.22	0.69	-0.02	0.06	0.74
Age at HBV-infection(yr)2			0.06			0.63			0.19			0.02
8-20	-1.53	1.8		0.27	1.05		1.52	1.11		-0.03	0.05
> 20	-4.77	2.08		1.2	1.22		-1.28	1.28		0.15	0.06
Unknown	1.28	2.55		1.64	1.49		-0.77	1.58		0.13	0.08
Maternal HBV-infection status	2.17	1.74	0.21	0.31	1.02	0.77	-2.45	1.08	0.02	0.06	0.05	0.27

β: Coefficients from the model; SE: Standard error.

¹Continuous variable;

²control group, < 8 yr of age at HBV infection.