Correlations between serum IL-35, IL-17 and HBeAg clearance in chronic hepatitis B patients treated with entecavir

Abstract

Abstract: Objective To study the dynamic changes of serum levels of interleukin-35 (IL-35) and interleukin-17 (IL-17) during the 48-week entecavir (ETV) treatment and to investigate their relationship with hepatitis B e antigen (HBeAg) clearance. Methods A total of 48 HBeAg-positive chronic hepatitis B (CHB) patients receiving antiviral treatment of ETV were followed up. Laboratory indicators including HBeAg titer, hepatitis B virus (HBV) DNA load, alanine aminotransferase (ALT), serum IL-35, IL-17 and the ratio of IL-35/IL-17 were detected at baseline, week 12, week 24, week 36 and week 48, respectively. According to the HBeAg status at week 48, the patients were divided into HBeAg-negative and HBeAg-positive group for comparative analysis. Results At week 48, 41 out of 48 (85.42%) patients achieved ALT normalization, 46 (95.83%) patients achieved complete virological response, and 2 (4.17%) patients achieved partial virological response. No patient had a virological breakthrough. A total of 11 (22.92%) patients achieved HBeAg clearance. At baseline, serum levels of IL-35, IL-17 and IL-35/IL-17 ratio in HBeAg-negative and HBeAg-positive groups were higher than those of healthy controls (P<0.05). However, there was no significant difference between these 2 groups (P>0.05). During treatment, serum IL-35 level in 2 groups significantly decreased (P<0.05), and was significantly different between 2 groups at week 48 (P=0.0421). Compared with that at baseline, serum IL-17 level showed no significant changes in 2 groups (both P>0.05), and no significant differences between 2 groups during treatment (P>0.05). Compared with those at baseline, the IL-35/IL-17 ratios and HBeAg titers of 2 groups showed different degrees of decline (P<0.05), with statistically significant differences between 2 groups (P<0.05). Conclusion ETV antiviral therapy can reduce the serum IL-35 level of CHB patients. The dynamic changes of serum levels of IL-35, IL-17 and IL-35/IL-17 ratio may predict HBeAg clearance during antiviral treatment.

Key words: Chronic hepatitis B; Entecavir; Interleukin-35; Interleukin-17; Heptitis B e antigen

ZHANG Cao-geng,ZHANG Zhi-feng, ZHANG Hong-yun, GU Hai-wei, LIU Hong, NI Ju-ping, SHI Yan-fen, XU Rui-fang. Correlations between serum IL-35, IL-17 and HBeAg clearance in chronic hepatitis B patients treated with entecavir[J]. Chinese Hepatolgy, 2018, 23(12): 1073-1077.

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