Work

Mass Cytometry Reveals Cell Type-specific Immune Remodeling in Placentas of Women with Chronic Hepatitis B Infection

Year: 2026

Type: article

Abstract: Background and Aims: Hepatitis B virus (HBV) vertical transmission remains a major health challenge, and the characteristics of the placental immune microenvironment in chronic infection remain unclear. This study aimed to use mass cytometry to comprehensively analyze phenotypic changes in placental immune cell subsets. Methods: leukocytes were detected using a 35-marker antibody panel. Unsupervised clustering identified 14 clusters, of which 13 immune clusters were analyzed. Results: -values were raw; no markers remained significant after false discovery rate (FDR) correction at an FDR threshold of < 0.1, indicating nominal significance. In addition, the coordinated expression patterns of markers within multiple cell subsets were weakened after infection. Conclusions: These exploratory findings suggest that HBV may reshape placental immunity through enhanced NK cell activation, broad basophil suppression, and disrupted marker coordination. The sample size was limited (n = 20), so the results need to be validated in larger cohorts. These findings provide new perspectives for understanding the mechanisms of mother-to-child transmission.

Source: Journal of Clinical and Translational Hepatology

DOI: 10.14218/jcth.2026.00429