IL4 and Hepatic fibrosis: As shown in Fig. 1e, although the negative correlation of IFN-γ/IL-4 ratio with the degree of liver fibrosis in fibrotic CHB patients with score of 1–6, the patients with mild fibrosis (F1–2) showed a significantly higher value of the serum IFN-γ/IL-4 ratio compared to controls with no fibrosis (F0), suggesting there was a positive correlation with fibrosis severity only considering these two groups.