Abstract: Objective To evaluate the clinical implication of peripheral blood dendritic cell （DC） subsets in cirrhotic patients with hepatitis B virus （HBV） infection. Methods Flow cytometry was used to analyze the counts of peripheral blood DC subsets and T lymphocyte subsets in 42 cirrhotic patients with HBV infection,45 patients with chronic hepatitis B and 30 healthy persons. Results The percentages of DC1 and DC2 subsets were （0.2±0.1）% and（0.2±0.04）%,respectively,in cirrhotic patients with chronic HBV infection, and （0.3±0.1）% and （0.2±0.1）%,respectively,in patients with chronic hepatitis B,all were significantly lower than those in health controls [（0.4±0.1）% and （0.3±0.1）%,P<0.01]; The DC2 subset in 13 cirrhotic patients with HBeAg-positive was （5.62±1.28） cells per microliter, significantly lower than that in 29 cirrhotic patients with HBeAg-negtive[（8.75±2.32）cells per microliter,P<0.05];No significant difference was found in DC1 subsets between cirrhotic patients with HBeAg-positive and HBeAg-negative;The CD4⁺ T lymphocyte and CD8⁺ T lymphocyte counts in cirrhotic patients were（588.4±124.2） cells per microliter and （338.5±97.4）cells per microliter,both significantly lower than those in patients with chronic hepatitis B[（686.7±106.5） cells per microliter and （432.1±102.6）cells per microliter,P<0.05];Moreover,CD8⁺ T lymphocytes in patients with cirrhosis and with chronic hepatitis B were both significantly lower than that in health controls[（560.2±105.6） cells per microliter,P<0.05]. Conclusion The decrease in DC1 and DC2 subsets in cirrhotic patients with HBV infection,accompanied with a decrease in CD8⁺ T lymphocytes,might play an important role in the development of cirrhosis after HBV infection.

Key words: Cirrhosis, Hepatitis B, Dendritic cell, Peripheral blood