Ribavirin and IFN-α combination therapy induces CD4+ T-cell proliferation and Th1 cytokine secretion in patients with chronic hepatitis B

Table 1 Clinical characteristics of patients at enrollment

Patient No.	Age(yr)	Gender	ALT(nkat/L)	HBV DNA(103 LGE/L)	Type of response(end of treatment)
Group A
1	48	M	89	6.8	Responder
2	51	M	158	7.3	Responder
3	44	M	86	8.3	Responder
4	41	M	464	8.0	Responder
5	39	M	122	4.8	Responder
6	67	M	142	8.1	Non-responder
7	52	M	140	8.3	Non-responder
8	26	M	69	4.8	Non-responder
9	52	M	46	7.6	Non-responder
10	33	M	39	5.4	Non-responder
11	24	F	458	8.7	Non-responder
12	27	F	51	8.5	Non-responder
13	52	F	80	7.4	Non-responder
14	37	F	57	6.8	Non-responder
Group B
15	42	F	43	7.2	No treatment
16	33	F	19	8.1	No treatment
17	51	M	138	3.9	No treatment
18	31	M	57	7.1	No treatment
19	29	M	79	7.1	No treatment
20	44	M	46	7.2	No treatment

P > 0.05, Group A vs Group B.

Table 2 SI of T cells against HBV antigens from combination therapy patients

Patient No.	12 mo					24 mo
	PHA	HBsAg	preS1	HBeAg	HBcAg	PHA	HBsAg	preS1	HBeAg	HBcAg
1	38.11	3.51	3.21	3.91	4.21	8.21	4.11	3.51	4.11	4.81
2	20.31	3.41	4.01	4.11	4.41	7.71	3.21	3.0	4.41	4.71
3	19.51	3.21	3.91	4.81	4.11	4.91	3.51	3.71	4.71	5.11
4	32.31	4.31	7.81	7.21	7.91	9.61	4.01	6.91	8.11	8.81
5	15.51	1.9	2.3	2.0	1.7	8.41	3.51	3.51	4.31	4.41
6	12.81	0.4	1.2	1.5	1.4	4.91	1.1	1.3	1.5	1.2
7	50.21	2.1	1.9	2.0	2.0	38.81	1.7	1.8	1.6	1.6
8	4.91	1.8	2.1	1.7	1.9	NT	NT	NT	NT	NT
9	66.31	2.0	1.5	1.8	1.6	12.01	1.5	1.2	1.5	1.3
10	56.61	2.3	2.3	2.0	2.1	18.31	2.0	2.1	1.8	1.9
11	23.81	1.1	1.0	1.1	1.2	8.71	1.0	0.8	1.2	1.3
12	19.21	1.4	1.2	1.4	1.3	4.61	1.1	1.5	1.1	1.2
13	42.01	1.8	1.5	1.9	1.7	6.91	1.5	1.3	1.4	1.5
14	21.81	2.2	2.4	2.2	2.6	4.91	2.0	2.3	1.9	2.0

¹SI > 3 correspond to significant proliferative responses. NT, not tested; PHA (10 mg/L); HBV antigen (3 mg/L).