Study Of Frequencies Of Cord Blood CD4~+CD25~+ Regulatory T Cells From Newborns Whose Mothers Had Chronic Hepatitis B Virus Infection

Objective:To investigate the frequencies of CD4~+CD25~+ regulatory T cells in the cord blood of newborns whose mothers were chronic asymptomatic HBV carriers.Methods:12 newborns born from HBsAg positive mothers were recruited , 10 newborns born from HBsAg negative mothers being used as a control group. The cord blood and peripheral blood of mothers were collected respectively .Frequencies of CD4~+CD25~+ regulatory T cells in the cord blood of newborns were analyzed by flow cytometry.Result:The percentage of CD4~+CD25~+ regulatory T cells/PBMCs in the cord blood of newborns born from HBsAg positive mothers(4.49%±1.18%) was significantly higher than that of control group(2.26%±0.97%),P<0.001;And newborns born from HBsAg positive mothers presented a much higher fraction of cord blood CD4~+CD25~+/CD4~+(9.62%±2.34%) than those in controls(7.93%±1.43%),P=0.0025.Conclusions:The results indicated that the proportion of CD4~+CD25~+ regulatory T cells in cord blood of newborns whose mothers were HBsAg positive asymptomatic carriers was higher than controls.