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Enhancing the antihepatitis B virus immune response by adefovir dipivoxil and entecavir therapies

Cellular & Molecular Immunology volume 8, pages 75–82 (2011)Cite this article

Abstract

Chronicity of hepatitis B (CHB) infection is characterized by a weak immune response to the virus. Entecavir (ETV) and adefovir dipivoxil (ADV) are effective in suppressing hepatitis B virus (HBV) replication. However, the underlying immune mechanism in the antiviral response of patients treated with nucleoside or nucleotide analogs is not clearly understood. In this study, regulatory T cells (Tregs) and intracellular cytokines, including IL-2, interferon (IFN)-γ, tumor-necrosis factor (TNF)-α and IL-4, were measured prior to and at 12, 24, 36 and 48 weeks after treatment with ETV or ADV. The cytokines were increased from 24 to 48 weeks after treatment. Higher levels of Th1 cytokines were observed with ETV (n=29) versus ADV (n=28) treatment. By contrast, the numbers of Tregs in both groups were decreased. The altered cytokine profile and cellular component was accompanied by a decrease in HBV DNA levels in both groups, which may contribute to their therapeutic effect in CHB infection. Our findings suggest that the antiviral effect of the drugs may be attributed not only to their direct effect on virus suppression but also to their immunoregulatory capabilities.

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Acknowledgements

We gratefully acknowledge Dr Voo (The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, USA) for technical assistance and help in developing the content of the manuscript. This work was supported by grants from the Eleventh Five-Year Plan for AIDS and viral hepatitis, prevention and treatment of infectious diseases and other major science and technology (No. 2008ZX10002-004), the Ministry of Health Clinical Disciplines (No. 20073531), the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 30771912, 30972610 and 30972611), Jilin Province Science and Technology Agency (No. 200705128) and a BMS grant for manuscript development.

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  1. Yanfang Jiang and Wanyu Li: These authors contributed equally to this work.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Hepatology, First Hospital, Jilin University, Changchun, China

    Yanfang Jiang, Wanyu Li, Lei Yu, Jingjing Liu, Guijie Xin, Hongqing Yan, Hong Zhang & Junqi Niu

  2. School of Public Health, Jilin University, Changchun, China

    Pinghui Sun

  3. Division of Immunology, Infection and Inflammation, University of Glasgow, Glasgow, UK

    Damo Xu

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  1. Yanfang Jiang
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Correspondence to Junqi Niu.

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Jiang, Y., Li, W., Yu, L. et al. Enhancing the antihepatitis B virus immune response by adefovir dipivoxil and entecavir therapies. Cell Mol Immunol 8, 75–82 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1038/cmi.2010.37

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