Abstract: Objective To detect the percentage of CD₈⁺CD₂₈^-、CD₈⁺CD₂₈⁺ cells in patients with antituberculosis drug-induced liver injury and investigate their expression on acute liver injury by antituberculosis drugs and clinical significance.Methods The flow cytometry was used to detect the percentages of CD₈⁺CD₂₈^- and CD₈⁺CD₂₈⁺ in peripheral blood of 42 patients with antituberculosis drug-induced acute liver injury, and 232 normal liver function patients with antituberculosis treatment. The mean amount of T cells between the two groups were compared by t-test and when P<0.05 the difference found in comparison was thought to be statistically significant.Results The percentage of CD₈⁺CD₂₈^- cells of antituberculosis drug-induced acute injury group was lower than that of antituberculosis with normal liver function group (12.2±7.7% and 23.6±10.4%), and the difference was of statistical significance (t=4.782,P<0.01). And the amount of CD₈⁺CD₂₈⁺ cells in antituberculosis drug-induced acute injury group was higher than that in antituberculosis with normal liver function group (23.5±9.1% and 10.2±6.7%), the difference being statistically significant (t=5.356,P<0.01) too.Conclusion The amount of CD₈⁺CD₂₈^- cells is reduced in peripheral blood of patients with antituberculosis drug-induced acute injury, while the amount of CD₈⁺CD₂₈⁺ cells is increased. It is held that CD₂₈ expression on CD₈⁺ T cells can be used as a marker of immunological detection in antituberculosis drug-induced acute liver injury.