Abstract: 【Abstract】　Objective　To study the changes of peripheral T lymphocyte subsets and its significance in patients with chronic hepatitis B (CHB) during peginterferon-alph2a treatment. Method　Fifty-two patients with chronic hepatitis B were recruited and received peginterferon-alph2a treatment for 48 weeks .Before and during the 12 and 48 weeks of treatment, flow cytometry was used to detect the Peripheral T lymphocyte subsets. Realtime PCR was used to detect the levels of HBV DNA in the serum. Markers of hepatitis B virus infection were detected by ELISA assay and levels of alanine aminotransferase in the serum were also measured by automatic biochemical analyzer. Results The proportion of peripheral blood CD4+、CD4+ / CD8+ in patients with CHB was significantly lower than that in healthy people(P<0.05) and the proportion of peripheral blood CD8+T lymphocytes are increasing(P<0.05). During 12 weeks of INFa treatment the proportion of peripheral blood CD4+T lymphocytes and the ratio of CD4+ / CD8+ increased gradually, the proportion of peripheral blood CD8+T lymphocytes decreased to normal level after 48 weeks’ INFa treatment. At 12 and 48 weeks of INFa treatment resulted in HBeAg negativity in 44.2% patients and 51.9% patients respectively. In 11(21.1%) patients who had seroconvertion from HBeAg to anti-HBeAg, after 12 months of INFa treatment, their proportion of peripheral blood CD4+、CD4+ / CD8+ had increased to level similar to that of the healthy people. Conclusions INFa treatment reduces HBV replication and increases the proportion of peripheral blood CD4+、CD4+ / CD8+ and these patients are prone to have higher sustain virus response and higher biochemical response.

Key words: 【Key words】 Chronic hepatitis , lymphocyte subsets , peginterferon-alph2a , CD4+T lymphocytes, CD8+T lymphocytes