Abstract
BACKGROUND: Nucleos(t)ide analogues (NAs) as the first-line treatment for chronic hepatitis B (CHB) have been shown to partially restore the antiviral immunity of the patients. However, hepatitis B virus (HBV) related hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) patients have a relatively longer duration of HBV infection and lower level of HBV DNA. Whether NAs treatments have a different effect on their immune repertoires between CHB and HCC patients remains to be determined. PATIENTS AND METHODS: In this study, 126 CHB patients and 85 HBV-related HCC patients who received or did not receive NAs treatment, as well as 361 healthy individuals were enrolled to analyze the effect of NAs treatment on T cell receptor β chain (TCRβ) and B cell receptor heavy chain (BCRh) repertoires in peripheral blood of the patients. RESULTS: We found that after NAs therapy, the richness and evenness of TCRβ and BCRh repertoires in CHB patients were significantly lower than those in untreated patients and healthy controls, while the diversity of TCRβ and BCRh repertoires was stable in HCC patients. The alanine aminotransferase and HBV DNA levels were not correlated with the TCR or BCR diversity in CHB and HCC patients. CONCLUSION: The results suggest that NAs therapy could influence the overall T cell and B cell repertoires diversity in CHB patients but has minimal impact on HCC patients, indicating a significant difference in the potential to restore antiviral immunity between CHB and HCC patients by NAs treatment.