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Immunologic features of HIV‐1‐infected women on HAART at delivery
Author(s) -
Ono Erika,
dos Santos Amélia M. N.,
Machado Daisy M.,
Succi Regina C. de M.,
Amed Abes M.,
Salomão Reinaldo,
Kallás Esper G.,
de MoraesPinto M. Isabel
Publication year - 2008
Publication title -
cytometry part b: clinical cytometry
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.646
H-Index - 61
eISSN - 1552-4957
pISSN - 1552-4949
DOI - 10.1002/cyto.b.20418
Subject(s) - cd8 , cd38 , medicine , immunophenotyping , viremia , flow cytometry , immunology , immune system , pregnancy , viral load , cd4 cd8 ratio , human immunodeficiency virus (hiv) , antiretroviral therapy , andrology , biology , lymphocyte subsets , stem cell , cd34 , genetics
Background: The conjoint effect of HIV infection and pregnancy on the immune system of women submitted to the prophylactic antiretroviral therapy presently recommended is still poorly understood. Methods: We evaluated 44 HIV‐infected women (HIV) and 45 HIV‐negative women (CT) at parturition and we compared them to 20 healthy nonpregnant women (NP). Immunophenotyping of lymphocytes was done by four‐color flow cytometry. Results: All HIV‐infected women received HAART during pregnancy and 56.8% had viral load <50 copies/mL at delivery. CD4+T cells/mm 3 were lower in HIV (447) than CT (593) and NP (738) ( P < 0.05). CD8+T cells/mm 3 were higher in HIV (799) than CT (384) and NP (395) ( P < 0.05). NK cells/mm 3 were lower in HIV (146) than in CT (253) and NP (198) ( P < 0.05). CD38 expression on CD4+T and on CD8+T cells was higher in HIV (CD4:12.1; CD8:14.9) than in CT(CD4:9.2; CD8:10.2) and NP(CD4:8.6; CD8:6.0) ( P < 0.05). However, CD56 expression on CD8+T cells (a marker of cytolytic effector function) was lower in HIV(7%) than in CT(12%) and NP(9%) ( P < 0.05). Conclusions: Even with low levels of viremia, HIV‐infected women at delivery showed a different immunologic profile from both healthy non‐HIV‐infected women in the puerperium and nonpregnant women, with lower CD4+T and higher CD8+T cells, high levels of CD38 expression, but low CD56 expression on CD8+T cells and low NK cell numbers. © 2008 Clinical Cytometry Society