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Role of CD 8 + T cells in triggering reversal reaction in HIV /leprosy patients
Author(s) -
Oliveira Ariane Leite,
Amadeu Thaís Porto,
França Gomes Andressa Cristina,
Menezes Vinícius Martins,
Costa Nery José Augusto,
Pinheiro Roberta Olmo,
Sarno Euzenir Nunes
Publication year - 2013
Publication title -
immunology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.297
H-Index - 133
eISSN - 1365-2567
pISSN - 0019-2805
DOI - 10.1111/imm.12108
Subject(s) - leprosy , human immunodeficiency virus (hiv) , chemistry , microbiology and biotechnology , virology , immunology , biology
Summary It has been reported that the initiation of highly active anti‐retroviral therapy ( HAART ) is associated with the development of reversal reaction ( RR ) in co‐infected HIV /leprosy patients. Nevertheless, the impact of HIV and HAART on the cellular immune response to M ycobacterium leprae ( ML ) remains unknown. In the present study, we observed that ex vivo peripheral blood mononuclear cells ( PBMC s) of both RR and RR / HIV patients presented increased percentages of activated CD 4 + T cells when compared with the healthy individuals ( HC ) group. The frequency of CD 8 + CD 38 + cells increased in the PBMC s of RR / HIV patients but not in RR patients when compared with the HC group. Both RR and RR / HIV skin lesion cells presented similar percentages of activated CD 4 + cells, but the numbers of activated CD 8 + cells were higher in RR / HIV in comparison to the RR group. The frequency of interferon‐γ‐producing cells was high in response to ML regardless of HIV co‐infection. In ML ‐stimulated cells, there was an increase in central memory CD 4 + T ‐cell frequencies in the RR and RR / HIV groups, but an increase in central memory CD 8 + T‐cell frequency was only observed in the RR / HIV group. ML increased granzyme B + effector memory CD 8 + T‐cell frequencies in the RR / HIV PBMC s, but not in the HC and RR groups. Our data suggest that the increased expression of effector memory CD 8 + T cells, together with greater perforin/granzyme B production, could be an additional mechanism leading to the advent of RR in co‐infected patients. Moreoever, this increased expression may explain the severity of RR occurring in these patients.