Abstract:

Objective To study the immunoregulatory mechanism of interleukin ⁃6（IL ⁃6）/IL ⁃6 receptor axis and its correlation with hepatitis B virus（HBV）genotype in patients with HBV infection. Methods 96 patients with HBV infection treated in our hospital from June 2017 to December 2019 were selected into the study group， and some healthy people in our hospital during the same period were selected into the control group. The serum levels of IL⁃6 and sIL⁃6R were compared. According to the genotype，the infected patients were mainly divided into B genotype and C genotype，while a few A genotype and A/C mixed genotype were not included in the study. The levels of IL ⁃6/IL ⁃6 receptor axis and HBV DNA were compared between the two groups. Pearson correlation was used to analyze the correlation between IL⁃6，sIL⁃6R and HBV genotypes，and partial correlation was used to analyze the correlation between serum IL⁃6，sIL⁃6R and HBV DNA level. Results The serum levels of IL⁃6 and sIL⁃6R in the study group were significantly higher than those in the control group（P < 0.05）. Serum HBV DNA and IL⁃6/IL⁃6 receptor axis levels of C genotype were significantly higher than those of B genotype patients（P < 0.05）. Pearson correlation analysis showed IL⁃6 and sIL⁃6R were correlated with HBV genotype（r = 0.543，0.513）. Partial correlation analysis showed that log HBV DNA was positively correlated with IL⁃6 and sIL⁃6R（partial correlation coefficient were 0.501，0.459），（P < 0.05）. Conclusion The immunomodulation of IL ⁃6/IL ⁃6 receptor axis is closely related to HBV infection. Among them，the IL⁃6/IL⁃6 receptor axis of C genotype infection is in a state of high expression，which is positively related to HBV⁃DNA load. 

Key words:

hepatitis B virus, interleukin ?6, soluble interleukin ?6 receptor, immunomodulation, genotype