Relationship between CTLA-4 expression in T cells and regulatory T cells and disease progression of HIV infected Chinese / 中华微生物学和免疫学杂志

ABSTRACT

Objective To detect the alternation of the level of CTLA-4 expression in T cells and regulatory T cells, and to study the relationship between CTLA-4 expression in T cells and regulatory T cells and disease progression of HIV infected Chinese. Methods Fifty-eight untreated HIV-1 infected patients were enrolled and the level of CTLA-4 expression in T cells and regulatory T cells were detected by flowcytometry. CD4+T cell numbers, viral load, level of CD95, HLA-DR, CD38 expression on T cells were measured to study the relationship between the level of CTLA-4 expression and disease progression of HIV infected patients. Results We found that the level of CTLA-4 expression in CD4+T cells continuously increased in long term nonprogressors (LTNP), asymptomatic HIV infected patients (HIV) and AIDS patients (P<0.05). The level of CTLA-4 expression in CD4+T cells was significantly correlated with CD4+T cell counts, the frequency of CD8+ CD38+T cells, CD4+CD95+T cells and CD8+CD95+T cells (P<0.05). There had no difference in the level of CTLA-4 expression in CD8+T cells among all groups and neither did we find the relationship between the level of CTLA-4 expression on CD8+ T cells and the CD4 counts, viral load, activation or apoptosis of T cells. The level of CTLA-4 expression in regulatory T cells of LTNP group was significantly lower than that of HIV and AIDS group (P<0.05). The level of CTLA-4 expression in regulatory T cells was significantly correlated with CD4 counts, the frequency of CD4+HLA-DR+T cells and CD8+HLA-DR+T cells (P<0.05). Conclusion The level of CTLA-4 expression in CD4+T cells and regulatory T cells is correlated with disease progression and the level of the activation of immune system of HIV infected Chinese and may play a role in the immune balance in HIV infection.