Figure 6
Association of miR-720 and TGFβ Levels with Treatment Outcome.
miR-720 level in CD8 T cells from responsive (a) and nonresponsive (b) patients after IFN-α treatment (n = 5 and 5). “Before” indicates day 0, when the patients were recruited and had received no prior anti-viral treatment. “After” in the Responsive Group indicates the time point of HBeAg to anti-e antibody seroconversion. Viral loads were undetectable for an average period of 8.4 months. “After” in the Unresponsive Group indicates that at the end of the 24 months of IFN-α treatment, these patients remained anti-HBeAg antibody-negative. Plasma TGFβ levels from responsive (c) and nonresponsive (d) patients after IFN-α treatment as indicated in (a) (n = 5 and 5). Two-tailed paired Student’s t-tests were used to determine significance. *p < 0.05; NS, Not Significant.
