Reviewer's report
Title:Changes of Treg andTh17 balance in the development of acute and
chronic HBV infection
Version: 2Date:23 January 2012
Reviewer: Michael Robek
Reviewer's report:
This manuscript by Liang Xue-Song and colleagues reports differences in the
Th17 and Treg cell proportions in HBV-infected patients with different disease
states (acute, chronic, carrier, liver failure). The immunological correlates of HBV
persistence and disease pathogenesis are not well understood, and relatively
little is known about the role of Th17 and Treg cells in these processes. Although
this manuscript is somewhat descriptive, this is not unusual for clinical studies of
this kind. Also, although the data reported here in some cases only confirm
results published by other groups, this study nevertheless contributes to our
understanding of HBV immunopathogenesis.
Minor Essential Revisions:
1. Figure 1: The symbols for statistical significance do not appear to display or
print properly. Although this may only be a PDF conversion issue, it should be
corrected.
2. Figure 1: The data shown in Fig 1C do not appear to be referenced in the
results along with the other panels of this figure. What is the purpose of showing
these results? This figure panel should either be discussed, or removed from the
figure.
3. Figure 3: Although r and P values are appropriately shown here, it would also
be useful to show the trend line that corresponds to these values.
4. The abbreviations for the disease states should be defined the first time they
are used.
5. Although the paper is thoroughly referenced, that authors missed one relevant
study (Zhang et al. Gastroenterology. 2011 Nov; 141(5):1897-906. Epub 2011
Jun 25). This paper also shows an association between Th17 cells and acute
hepatitis B, as well as an association between Th17 cell proportion and
ALT/AST.
Level of interest: An article whose findings are important to those with closely
related research interests
Quality of written English: Needs some language corrections before being
published
Statistical review: No, the manuscript does not need to be seen by a
statistician.
Declaration of competing interests:
I declare that I have no competing interests.
Reviewer's report
Title:Changes of Treg andTh17 balance in the development of acute and
chronic HBV infection
Version: 2Date:23 January 2012
Reviewer: Michael Robek
Reviewer's report:
This manuscript by Liang Xue-Song and colleagues reports differences in the
Th17 and Treg cell proportions in HBV-infected patients with different disease
states (acute, chronic, carrier, liver failure). The immunological correlates of HBV
persistence and disease pathogenesis are not well understood, and relatively
little is known about the role of Th17 and Treg cells in these processes. Although
this manuscript is somewhat descriptive, this is not unusual for clinical studies of
this kind. Also, although the data reported here in some cases only confirm
results published by other groups, this study nevertheless contributes to our
understanding of HBV immunopathogenesis.
Minor Essential Revisions:
1. Figure 1: The symbols for statistical significance do not appear to display or
print properly. Although this may only be a PDF conversion issue, it should be
corrected.
2. Figure 1: The data shown in Fig 1C do not appear to be referenced in the
results along with the other panels of this figure. What is the purpose of showing
these results? This figure panel should either be discussed, or removed from the
figure.
3. Figure 3: Although r and P values are appropriately shown here, it would also
be useful to show the trend line that corresponds to these values.
4. The abbreviations for the disease states should be defined the first time they
are used.
5. Although the paper is thoroughly referenced, that authors missed one relevant
study (Zhang et al. Gastroenterology. 2011 Nov; 141(5):1897-906. Epub 2011
Jun 25). This paper also shows an association between Th17 cells and acute
hepatitis B, as well as an association between Th17 cell proportion and
ALT/AST.
Level of interest: An article whose findings are important to those with closely
related research interests
Quality of written English: Needs some language corrections before being
published
Statistical review: No, the manuscript does not need to be seen by a
statistician.
Declaration of competing interests:
I declare that I have no competing interests.
Please review this paper.
user
Reviewer's report
Title:Changes of Treg andTh17 balance in the development of acute and
chronic HBV infection
Version: 2Date:23 January 2012
Reviewer: Michael Robek
Reviewer's report:
This manuscript by Liang Xue-Song and colleagues reports differences in the
Th17 and Treg cell proportions in HBV-infected patients with different disease
states (acute, chronic, carrier, liver failure). The immunological correlates of HBV
persistence and disease pathogenesis are not well understood, and relatively
little is known about the role of Th17 and Treg cells in these processes. Although
this manuscript is somewhat descriptive, this is not unusual for clinical studies of
this kind. Also, although the data reported here in some cases only confirm
results published by other groups, this study nevertheless contributes to our
understanding of HBV immunopathogenesis.
Minor Essential Revisions:
1. Figure 1: The symbols for statistical significance do not appear to display or
print properly. Although this may only be a PDF conversion issue, it should be
corrected.
2. Figure 1: The data shown in Fig 1C do not appear to be referenced in the
results along with the other panels of this figure. What is the purpose of showing
these results? This figure panel should either be discussed, or removed from the
figure.
3. Figure 3: Although r and P values are appropriately shown here, it would also
be useful to show the trend line that corresponds to these values.
4. The abbreviations for the disease states should be defined the first time they
are used.
5. Although the paper is thoroughly referenced, that authors missed one relevant
study (Zhang et al. Gastroenterology. 2011 Nov; 141(5):1897-906. Epub 2011
Jun 25). This paper also shows an association between Th17 cells and acute
hepatitis B, as well as an association between Th17 cell proportion and
ALT/AST.
Level of interest: An article whose findings are important to those with closely
related research interests
Quality of written English: Needs some language corrections before being
published
Statistical review: No, the manuscript does not need to be seen by a
statistician.
Declaration of competing interests:
I declare that I have no competing interests.
assistant