The role of T helper type 17 cells in the pathogenesis of HIV/tuberculosis-coinfected patients / 中华传染病杂志

ABSTRACT

ObjectiveTo evaluate the IL-17 expression in HIV/tuberculosis-coinfected patients and its role in the pathogenesis of this coinfection.MethodsFifty-four HIV infected patients were divided into three groupssimple HIV infected group,HIV with latent tuberculosis infection (HIV+ LTBI) group and HIV coinfected with active tuberculosis (HIV+ ATB) group.The whole blood intracellular cytokine staining was performed and samples were then detected by BD FACSCanto.The expressions of CD4+ IL-17+ T cells and CD4+ IFNγ+ T cells were analyzed using FACSDiva software.Comparison between groups was done by independent sample t test.ResultsThe CD4+ T cell count and viral load among these three groups were comparable.There were no significant difference of the expression of CD4+ IL-17+ T cells between simple HIV infected group and HIV+ LTBI group (1.40 ± 1.01) ％ vs (1.29±0.86) ％,(t=0.336,P＞0.05),but both of these two groups were much higher than HIV+ATB group (t=3.680,t=2.516,P＜0.05).There were no significant differences of the expression of CD4+ IFNγ+ T cells among these three groups [(32.8±24.0)％ vs (40.3±1 21.9) ％ vs (46.1±31.2)％,(t=-0.939,t=-1.602,t=-0.646,P＞0.05)].ConclusionThe Th17 response is down-regulated in HIV/tuberculosis-coinfected patients,which may play an important antitubercular role in the pathogenesis of coinfection.