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Alterations of CD4 + CD25 + Foxp3 + regulatory T cells in HIV‐infected slow progressors of former blood donors in China
Author(s) -
Zhang Zining,
Jiang Yongjun,
Zhang Min,
Liu Jing,
Sun Guoquan,
Shi Wanying,
Wang Yanan,
Shang Hong
Publication year - 2010
Publication title -
microbiology and immunology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.664
H-Index - 70
eISSN - 1348-0421
pISSN - 0385-5600
DOI - 10.1111/j.1348-0421.2010.00259.x
Subject(s) - cd38 , il 2 receptor , foxp3 , asymptomatic , cd8 , biology , immunology , immune system , flow cytometry , peripheral blood mononuclear cell , regulatory t cell , virology , t cell , medicine , in vitro , cd34 , biochemistry , genetics , stem cell
Our objective was to study the alterations of CD4 + CD25 + Foxp3 + T regs in HIV‐infected SPs and to examine the role of T regs in the disease progression of HIV. The proportion of CD4 + CD25 + Foxp3 + T regs in peripheral blood of 24 SPs, 30 asymptomatic HIV‐infected patients, 20 AIDS patients, and 16 non‐infected controls was quantified using flow cytometry. HIV Gag peptide mix‐induced IFN‐γ expression in CD8 + T cells in whole and CD25‐depleted PBMCs was examined to evaluate the function of T regs . The expression of CTLA‐4 in T regs was also detected to measure the suppressive effect of T regs . HLA‐DR and CD38 expression were measured to study the relationship between the frequency of T regs and immune activation of HIV‐infected patients. The frequency of CD4 + CD25 + Foxp3 + regulatory T cells in SPs was lower than in asymptomatic HIV‐infected patients, AIDS patients, and normal controls ( P < 0.05). T regs in SPs showed lower intracellular CTLA‐4 expression than those of asymptomatic HIV‐infected patients and AIDS patients ( P < 0.05). The frequency of T regs significantly correlated with the percentage of CD38 expression on CD4 + and CD8 + T cells ( P < 0.05). Multivariate regression analysis showed that the CD4 + T cell count was the strongest independent factor correlated with the absolute count of T regs , while viral load had the strongest predictive strength on the proportion of T regs . We conclude that a lower frequency of T regs and intracellular CTLA‐4 expression of T regs was one of the characteristics of SPs that may have important clinical impacts for the prediction of the clinical progress of HIV infection.