The natural course of chronic hepatitis B virus (HBV) infections follows distinct clinical disease phases, characterized by fluctuating levels of serum HBV DNA and ALT. The immune cells and their features that govern these clinical disease transitions remain unknown. In the current study, we performed RNA sequencing on purified B cells from blood (n = 42) and liver (n = 10) of healthy controls and chronic HBV patients. We found distinct gene expression profiles between healthy controls and chronic HBV patients, as evidenced by 190 differentially expressed genes (DEG), but also between the clinical phenotypes of a chronic HBV infection (17–110 DEG between each phase). Numerous immune pathways, including the B cell receptor pathway were upregulated in liver B cells when compared to peripheral B cells. Further investigation of the detected DEG suggested an activation of B cells during HBeAg seroconversion and an active regulation of B cell signalling in the liver.

慢性乙型肝炎病毒 (HBV) 感染的自然过程遵循不同的临床疾病阶段，其特征是血清 HBV DNA 和 ALT 水平波动。控制这些临床疾病转变的免疫细胞及其特征仍然未知。在当前的研究中，我们对来自健康对照和慢性 HBV 患者的血液（n = 42）和肝脏（n = 10）的纯化 B 细胞进行了 RNA 测序。我们发现健康对照和慢性 HBV 患者之间存在不同的基因表达谱，如 190 个差异表达基因（DEG）以及慢性 HBV 感染的临床表型（每个阶段之间为 17-110 DEG）所证明的那样。与外周 B 细胞相比，许多免疫通路，包括 B 细胞受体通路，在肝 B 细胞中被上调。