Monocyte-derived dendritic cells from hepatitis B patients exhibit impaired function, resulting in diminished T cell production of interleukin-2 (IL-2), TNF-α, and IFN-γ (Beckebaum et al., 2003).Concurrently, studies have demonstrated that pDCs in chronic hepatitis B patients exhibit impaired capacity to activate CD4+ T cells (Hong and Gong, 2008). Here, TNF is linked to chronic hepatitis B virus infection.