METHODS: Forty PLHIV-1 in treatment success (PLHIV-1s) and fifty PLHIV-1 in treatment failure (PLHIV-1f) followed at the University Hospital of Abomey-Calavi/Sô-Ava in Benin were enrolled. Twenty healthy persons were also recruited as control group. Circulating cytokines and immune cells were quantified respectively by ELISA and flow cytometry.
RESULTS: PLHIV-1 exhibited low proportions of CD4 + T cells, NK, NKT, granulocytes, classical and non-classical monocytes, and high proportions of CD8 + T cells, particularly in the PLHIV-1f group, compared to control subjects. Eosinophils, neutrophils and B cell frequencies did not change between the study groups. Circulating IFN-γ decreased whereas IL-4 significantly increased in PLHIV-1s compared to PLHIV-1f and control subjects even though the HIV infection in PLHIV-1s downregulated the high Th1 phenotype observed in control subjects. However, Th1/Th2 ratio remained biased to a Th1 phenotype in PLHIV-1f, suggesting that high viral load may have maintained a potential pro-inflammatory status in these patients. Data on inflammatory cytokines showed that IL-6 and TNF-α concentrations were significantly higher in PLHIV-1s and PLHIV-1f groups than in control subjects. Significant high levels of IL-5 and IL-7 were observed in PLHIV-1f compared to controls whereas PLHIV-1s presented only a high level of IL-5. No change was observed in IL-13 levels between the study groups.
CONCLUSIONS: Our study shows that, in addition to CD4/CD8 T cell ratio, NK and NKT cells along with IL-6, TNF-α, IL-5 and IL-7 cytokines could serve as valuable immunological biomarkers in the therapeutic monitoring of PLHIV-1 although a larger number of patients would be necessary to confirm these results.
方法:在贝宁的Abomey-Calavi/SóAva大学医院接受治疗成功的40例PLHIV-1(PLHIV-1s)和治疗失败的50例PLHIV-1(PLHIV-1f)。20例健康人作为对照组。通过ELISA和流式细胞术分别定量循环细胞因子和免疫细胞。
结果:PLHIV-1表现出低比例的CD4+T细胞,NK,NKT,粒细胞,经典和非经典单核细胞,和高比例的CD8+T细胞,特别是在PLHIV-1f组中,与对照组相比。嗜酸性粒细胞,中性粒细胞和B细胞频率在研究组之间没有变化.与PLHIV-1f和对照受试者相比,PLHIV-1s中的循环IFN-γ降低,而IL-4显着增加,尽管PLHIV-1s中的HIV感染下调了对照受试者中观察到的高Th1表型。然而,在PLHIV-1f中,Th1/Th2比率仍然偏向于Th1表型,提示高病毒载量可能在这些患者中维持了潜在的促炎状态.炎性细胞因子的数据显示,PLHIV-1s和PLHIV-1f组的IL-6和TNF-α浓度明显高于对照组。与对照相比,在PLHIV-1f中观察到显著高水平的IL-5和IL-7,而PLHIV-1s仅呈现高水平的IL-5。在研究组之间没有观察到IL-13水平的变化。
结论:我们的研究表明,除了CD4/CD8T细胞比,NK和NKT细胞以及IL-6,TNF-α,IL-5和IL-7细胞因子可以在PLHIV-1的治疗性监测中作为有价值的免疫生物标志物,尽管需要更多的患者来确认这些结果。