OBJECTIVETo study the association of the CD4+ cell counts and HBeAg with liver damage and cirrhosis in patients with chronic hepatitis B (CHB).

METHODTo measure the lymphocytes both CD4 and HLA-DR positive of 58 patients with CHB and 18 patients with HBsAg negative but HBcAb positive. The Platelets (PLT) were counted and the ALT and AST were measured, meanwhile, AST/PLT values were calculated.

RESULTSThe CD4+ cell counts of the three types patients were lower than those of healthy controls significantly,and those of HBcAb positive patients without CHB were higher than those of HBeAg negative patients with CHB which were higher than those of HBeAg positive patients significantly (P < 0.05). And the ALT, AST and AST/PLT levels of both HBeAg negative and positive patients were much higher than the three indicators of both HBcAb positive patients without CHB and healthy controls significantly (P < 0.02), meanwhile, the three indicators of HBeAg negative patients were much lower than those of HBeAg positive ones. In addition, the CD4+ cell counts of the two types patients were negatively correlative with the three indicators(P < 0.05).

CONCLUSIONDecreased CD4+ cell count can be used as the indicator to predicate the progress of liver damage in patients with CHB, and it is also useful for HBeAg to evaluate the development degree of liver damage and fibrosis in CHB patients.