Abstract: Objective The aim of this study was to investigate the change and its clinical significance of peripheral blood lymphocyte subsets in children and adolescents with autoimmune hepatitis (AIH). Methods 42 child and adolescent patients with AIH and 50 healthy children were recruited in our hospital from June 2015 through January 2019, and the peripheral blood mononuclear cell surface markers were detected by flow cytometry. Results The percentage of CD4⁺T cells in children with AIH was 53.1(42.5, 57.8)%, significantly higher than , while that of CD14⁺T cells was 62.2(40.1, 76.8)%, significantly lower than in healthy children, and there was no significant difference in percentage of CD8⁺T cells between the two groups 【25.9(12.5, 32.4)% vs. 18.7(12.8, 28.5)%, P>0.05); the percentages of CD45RA, CD45RO, CCR3 and CD28 on the surfaces of CD4⁺T cells in AIH patients were 26.1(15.2, 32.8)%, 19.2(13.5, 27.3)%, 15.4(2.1, 53.8)% and 51.2(34.4, 56.9)%, all significantly higher than in healthy children; the percentages of CD45RA, CCR3 and CD25 on the surfaces of peripheral blood CD8⁺T cells were 18.0(14.1, 26.8)%, 1.2(0.5, 3.2)% and 0.6(0.3, 7.8)%, significantly higher than 【13.6(8.2, 18.3)%, 0.5(0.3, 0.6)% and 0.3(0.2, 0.5)%, respectively, P<0.05], while that of CD45RO on the surface of CD8⁺T cells was 2.7(2.3, 4.8)%, significantly lower than in the control; the percentage of CD45R0 on the surface of CD14⁺T cells in children with AIH was 34.7(16.3, 57.8)%, much lower than in healthy children. Conclusion The imbalance of CD4⁺, CD8⁺ and CD14⁺T cells in peripheral blood and the abnormal expression of cell surface molecules are closely related to the onset or progression of AIH in young patients and deserve further study.

Key words: Autoimmune hepatitis, Peripheral blood mononuclear cells, Lymphocyte subsets, Surface molecule, Children