Peripheral Blood CD8+ T Cells CCR5 Expression and Its Δ32 Mutation in Iranian Patients with Occult Hepatitis B Infections

Background: The main purpose of this study was to investigate the expression of the CCR5 and the Delta 32 mutation in its gene on the CD8(+) T cells in blood donors suffering from an occult hepatitis B infection (OBI). Methodology: The studied population included 57 OBI HBsAg/anti-HBc(+) patients with positive HBV-DNA. Flow cytometric analysis and Gap-PCR was performed to examine the expression of CCR5 on CD8(+) T cells and CCR5-Delta 32 mutations, respectively. Results: Flow cytometric analysis indicated that the number of cells which simultaneously co-express CD8 and CCR5 are decreased significantly in patients; no OBI patients had CCR5-432 mutations. Conclusions: Based on the results of this study, it can be concluded that the expression of CCR5 on CD8(+) T cells is defected in OBI patients. This may be directly related to the CCR5 gene defect (primary abnormality) or CCR5 expressing inducers (secondary abnormality), such as cytokines.