ABSTRACT
Objective To investigate the changes of dendritic cell subsets and CD 80,CD86 expression in peripher-al blood in patients with immune thrombocytopenia (ITP), and to evaluate the changes of serum interleukin -2(IL-2), serum interleukin-4(IL-4), serum interleukin-10(IL-10) and interferon-γ(IFN-γ) before and after dexam-ethasone treatment, overall, further analyzing the relationship between them and dexamethasone .Methods Collec-ting blood samples of 60 ITP patients and 10 normal controls with heparin anticoagulation , and distribution of den-dritic cell subsets of ITP and normal controls was detected by flow cytometry , and the changes of serum IL-2, IL-4, IL-10 and IFN-γwere detected by enzyme linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA).Results The percentage of DC2 was increased in ITP patients compared with the control group (P <0.05) and there was no statistically significont difference after dexamethasone treatment ; the expressions of CD80 on DC1 and DC2 were increased compared with the control group(P <0.05), as well as the expression of CD86 on DC2 and the percentage of them decreased after treatment.The serum IL-2, IFN-γlevels before the dexamethasone treatment were higher than the normal control group(P <0.05),then decreased after treatment.However, the serum IL-4, IL-10 levels were lower than the nor-mal control group before the treatment (P <0.05), increased after treatment.Conclusion The disorder of the number and function of DCs and the changes of the serum IL -2, IL-4, IL-10 and IFN-γlevels may play important roles in the pathogenesis of ITP.Moreover, there is a probable key relationship between them and the effects of dexamethasone treatment.
ABSTRACT
Background & objective: DCs trigger both innate and adaptive immune responses to control HIV infection and represent a viral reservoir acting as target and HIV carriers for infection of permissive CD4+ T-cells. DCs thus form a very attractive study subject to further our existing knowledge of HIV induced immunopathogenesis due to its diverse and crucial role in HIV infection establishment, viral dissemination, immune evasion, viral persistence, etc. We aimed to characterize the effect of HIV infection on myeloid and plasmacytoid dendritic cell subsets in a group of HIV-1 subtype C infected treated or untreated Indian individuals. Methods: Blood DC subset numbers and immunophenotype were studied for 79 HIV infected subjects at various stages of disease and compared with 13 HIV-uninfected controls. Comparisons were also made between groups of subjects based on their CD4+ T cell counts and also experience of antiretrovirals. Results: Significant decreases were observed in blood DC counts and the two DC subsets in HIV infected individuals. Subjects with lowest CD4+ T cell counts also had a drastically reduced DC subset pool which correlated positively with plasma viraemia and negatively with CD4+ T cell counts. DC subsets from HIV infected subjects showed higher expression of co-stimulatory molecules CD40 and CD86, and HIV-1 co-receptors CXCR4 and CCR5 which correlated positively with HIV-1 plasma viraemia. The alterations in blood DCs were partly resolved in ART receiving study subjects. Interpretation & conclusions: Correlation between DC subset activation state and viraemia supports the role of DC activation on viral replication and CD4+ T cell depletion.