The correlation between HLA-DR or CD38 expression in CD8+ T cells and CD4+ T cells count in treatment-naive HIV/AIDS patients / 中华内科杂志

ABSTRACT

Objective To analyze the correlation between CD4+ T cell count and HLA-DR or CD38 expression on peripheral CD8+ T cells in treatment-naive Chinese HIV/AIDS patients.Methods A total of 471 treatment-naive HIV-infected patients and 53 healthy volunteers were enrolled.HLA-DR or CD38 expression on peripheral CD8+ T cells, CD4+ T cell count, naive CD4+ T cell subsets and CD28 expression on T cells were measured by flow cytometry.Plasma HIV RNA load was quantified by real-time PCR (COBAS TaqMan RT-PCR).Mann-Whitney U test and Spearman's rank correlation test were used for statistical analysis.Results CD38 expression intensity on CD8+ T cells was negatively correlated with CD4+ T cell count (r =-0.53, P ＜ 0.001) and naive CD4+ T cell count (r =-0.48, P ＜ 0.001).CD38 expression on CD8+ T cells also displayed significantly negative correlation with CD28 expression on CD8+ T cells (r =-0.46, P ＜ 0.001).HLA-DR expression on CD8+ T cells did not show significant correlation with CD4+ T cell count.Only weak positive correlation was found between CD38 intensity on CD8+ T cells and plasma HIV RNA load.Conclusions Compared with HLA-DR, CD38 expression on CD8+ T cells shows more significant negative correlation with CD4+ T cell count in treatment-naive patients.CD38 and HLA-DR may play different roles on the persistent immune activation in HIV infection.