| BackgroundThe incidence of viral hepatitis B is high, and it is difficult to cure, carrying serious damage to human's health. The pathogenesis of viral hepatitis B is very complicated. Generally speaking, the pathological change of liver and other organs after the hepatitis B virus (HBV) infect the body, the arising and aggravation of the disease, is not caused by the virus oneself, but with the relationship to the body's immune condition, especially is mainly caused by the allergy. Chronic infection of HBV can cause liver fibrosis, hepatocirrhosis and even hepatocarcinoma, and seriously threaten the patients' lives. The pathogenesis of chronic persistent HBV infection has not been known completely, perhaps including the virus and patient two factors, and the immune tolerance is considered as one of the key factors.The cytokines are the general designation of low molecular protein factors with high activity and various functions, which are secreted by active immune cells and some other cells. They are very important to regulate the immunesystem. Help T cells (Th cells) are one kind of the main cells to secrete cytokines. They can be classified as Thl and Th2 according to the kinds and functions of cytokines that secrete. The balance of Thl/Th2 is necessary to maintain the normal immune functions of the body. The unbalance of body's immune response to HBV is one of important pathogenesis of chronic hepatitis B, as the hypoimmunity of Thl and the hyperimmunity of Th2.The reports often pay attention to the different levels of Thl/Th2 cytokines between acute and chronic hepatitis B patients at present, and they often measure few kinds of cytokines. This paper wants to study whether are different that the Thl/Th2 levels in the serum of the different states of chronic hepatitis B and the correlation between kinds of cytokines and ALT, through measures three kinds of Thl cytokines (IL-2, IFN, IL-12) and three kinds of Th2 cytokines (IL-4, IL-6, IL-10). Materials and methodsThe 73 chronic hepatitis B patients were inpatients in the First Affiliated Hospital, College of Medicine, Zhejiang University during September to December 2003. Among them, 15 patients were low-grade or mid-grade; 16 patients were high-grade; 17 patients were chronic severe hepatitis; and 25 patients were post-hepatitis hepatocirrhosis. There were 64 male patients and 9 female patients in them, whose ages were from 16 to 74. Get 3ml vein blood from each patient, and the serums were frozen in -20 . The method to measure the levels of kinds of cytokines is ELISA. The ELISA reagent boxes are allproduced by Jingmei BioTech Co Ltd. The process of experimentis held under the explanation of the ELISA reagent boxesstrictly.Results and discussionThe levels of three kinds of Thl cytokines (IL-2, IFN-y and IL-12) in the serum of chronic hepatitis B patients are generally low in the experiment. It means that the cellular immunity of patients is low, and HBV in the body can not been eliminated. The level differences between kinds of groups have non-significance except the level difference of IFN between chronic hepatitis low-grade or mid-grade and post-hepatitis hepatocirrhosis patients. The levels of these three cytokines of chronic severe hepatitis and post-hepatitis hepatocirrhosis patients are high comparatively, and the possible reason is the high cellular immunity function comparatively during the active period of disease.The level differences of three kinds of Th2 cytokines (IL-4, IL-6, IL-10) between kinds of groups all have non-significance. The levels of IL-6 are high, and the possible reason is that the chronic persistent inflammation in the liver cause the more producing and less eliminating of IL-6. Otherwise, IL-6 can promote liver fibrosis and hepatocirrhosis, so the level of post-hepatitis hepatocirrhosis patients is also high. The levels of IL-4 and IL-10 in the serum of chronic severe hepatitis and post-hepatitis hepatocirrhosis patients are high comparatively, because the Thl cytokines are high comparatively...
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