This work had the aim to study the role of disbalance of inflammatory procytokines, lymphocyte subpopulation composition in peripheral blood, and cell populations of hepatic tissue in pathogenesis of viral hepatitis. A total of 159 patients with chronic hepatitis B and C were examined. They proved to exhibit signs of autoimmune processes (ASMA, ANA, AMA, anti-LKM-1, RF, CG) and cytokine (IL-1b, TNFa) disbalance. The number of lymphocytes expressing HLADR+ was shown to increase and CD+ lymphocyte to decrease in proportion to the severity of periportal necrosis, portal inflammation, intralobular degeneration and fibrosis compared with healthy donors. Hepatic biopsies contained T-regulatory cell complex (CD4+ CD25+). These data give evidence of the morphofunctional basis for autoimmune manifestations in patients with persistent viral hepatitis infection.