[Abstract] Objective To investigate the correlation between the models of antigen/ antibody , the contents of hepatics B DNA in patients infected with HBV and the levels of interleukin- 16 in serum so that we can provide a new thinking for pathogenesis of hepatitis B. Methods TRFIA was used to determine HBsAg ,anti - HBs ,HBeAg ,anti - HBe and anti - HBc - IgM . FQ-PCR was used to measure the HBV DNA .ELISA was applied to detect the levels of interleukin - 16 in serum. Results The levels of IL - 16 in both the models of antigen/ antibody and the contents of HBV DNA in patients infected with HBV were much higher than those in healthy control group, respectively with statistic difference between 1,3/1,3,5 models and 1,4,5 models, between HBV DNA positive group and negative group. Conclusions IL - 16 level in serum was obviously high in both early hepatitis B and period with a good many HBV DNA virus reproduction ,which showed that IL - 16 might participate in the course of liver injury in acute and severe hepatitis B. It was found that IL - 16 was a potential cytokine for promoting inflammation.