Open AccessRelationship between IL‐2 receptor expression and proliferative responses in lymphocytes from HIV‐1 seropositive homosexual men
Author(s) -
CHOPRA R. K.,
RAJ N. B. K.,
SCALLY J. P.,
DONNENBERG A. D.,
ADLER W. H.,
SAAH A. J.,
MARGOLICK J. B.
Publication year - 1993
Publication title -
clinical & experimental immunology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.329
H-Index - 135
eISSN - 1365-2249
pISSN - 0009-9104
DOI - 10.1111/j.1365-2249.1993.tb03347.x
Subject(s) - immunology , interleukin 2 , receptor , biology , cytokine , multicenter aids cohort study , t lymphocyte , lymphocyte , human immunodeficiency virus (hiv) , immune system , viral disease , sida , biochemistry
SUMMARY Previous studies have shown that exogenous IL‐2 does not correct the reduction in phytohaemagglu‐tinin (PHA)‐induced proliferation of lymphocytes from HIV‐1 infected (HIV + ) individuals. We investigated the mechanism of this reduction to determine if reduced expression of the complete IL‐2 receptor (IL‐2R) was responsible. In a series of experiments, PHA‐stimulated lymphocytes from a total of 89 HIV − and 93 HIV + homosexual men from the Baltimore Multicentre AIDS Cohort Study (MACS) were studied to determine the expression of messages for the α and β subunits of the IL‐2R, the binding of 125 I‐IL‐2 to high affinity IL‐2R, and the effect of IL‐2 on cell proliferation. Compared to HIV − donors, PHA‐stimulated lymphocytes from most HIV + donors demonstrated (i) a reduction in high affinity IL‐2R expression that correlated with the reduction in the IL‐2‐induced proliferative response; and (ii) a reduction in expression of both IL‐2R α‐ and β‐chain mRNA which may be responsible for decreased high affinity IL‐2R expression. However, lymphocytes from some HIV + individuals had borderline low IL‐2‐induced proliferation despite normal or elevated expression of high affinity IL‐2R. These results suggest that decreased expression of IL‐2R may account, at least in part, for the lower proliferative response of cells from HIV + donors.