Effect of bicyclol tablets on cellular immune responses in patients with chronic hepatitis B

Abstract

Abstract: Objective To study the effect of bicyclol tablets on the levels of interleukin (IL)-4, IL-10 and interferon (IFN)-γ in culture supernatants of peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) from patients with chronic hepatitis B (CHB). Methods Whole blood samples were obtained from 30 patients with CHB before and at 1 and 3 months during bicyclol tablet therapy and also from 7 healthy donors for isolation of the PBMCs. The product of IL-4, IL-10 and IFN-γ in the culture supernatant of PBMCs were determined by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) after 72 h of cultivation. Results At 3 months during the therapy, the level of IFN-γ was increased significantly in the patients from 36.25±19.92 pg/ml to 53.19±7.28 pg/ml (P<0.05) and the level of IL-4 significantly decreased from 17.18±7.43 pg/ml to 9.74±7.75 pg/ml (P<0.01). The changes in the levels of IL-4 and IFN-γ at 3 months during therapy were more obvious in patients with HBeAg positivity than in HBeAg-negative patients (8.74±6.12 pg/ml vs 20.51±9.16 pg/ml, 50.71±30.76 pg/ml vs 26.03±10.48 pg/ml, respectively, P<0.05). Conclusion Bicyclol tablets not only promote Th1 type cytokine-mediated immune responses but also down-regulates Th2 type cytokine-mediated immune responses.

CLC Number:

SHI Bin-bin¹, PENG Jie¹, WEN Fan-yuan², HOU Jin-lin¹. Effect of bicyclol tablets on cellular immune responses in patients with chronic hepatitis B[J]. Journal of Southern Medical University, 2005, 25(06): 706-708.

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