Objective: To study the infection and replication of hepatitis B virus (HBV) in polymorphonuclear neutrophils of the patients with chronic hepatitis B.
Methods: The neutrophils were isolated and purified by neutrophil isolation medium, and the loads of HBV-DNA in neutrophils were detected by PCR.
Results: Positive detection rate of HBV-DNA in neutrophils of chronic hepatitis B patients was 30.95% (13/42), and among them, the HBeAg positive and HBeAg negative ones were 52.94% (9/17) and 16.00%(4/25), respectively. After treatment of adefovir, the positive rate of HBV-DNA in neutrophils of chronic hepatitis B patients was 9.52% (4/42), and among them, the HBeAg positive and HBeAg negative ones were 17.65%(3/17) and 4.00%(1/25), respectively. There were significantly different positive rates in the patients before and after treatment (P<0.05).
Conclusion: HBV can infect the neutrophils of the patients with chronic hepatitis B to achieve extrahepatic occult infection. Adefovir has a good inhibitory effect against the latent or hidden HBV in neutrophils.