A study on T lymphocyte apoptosis and disease progression in chronic HIV/AIDS patients
Objective To discuss the relationship between various T lymphocyte subsets apoptosis and disease progression in chronic antiretroviral-naive HIV/AIDS patients. Methods Thirty-six chronic antiretrovi-ral-naive HIV-infected individuals as well as 16 healthy HIV-negative controls were performed in this study. Ac-cording to the CD4~+ T cell counts, all the patients were divided three groups: 350/μl. After the peripheral blood mononuclear cells(PBMC) were isolated, T lymphocyte subpopulations were determined by the expression of CD45RO and CD27, and the apoptosis of different T cell subsets were measured by Annexin V staining, then analyzed by flow cytometry. To investigate whether the apoptosis of T cells varied with the culture time in vitro, 4 healthy controls and 4 patients were chosen as subjects, and the lev-els of cell apoptosis were analyzed at the culture time points of 0, 3, 6, 12, 24 h. Results (1)The percenta-ges of the AnnexinV expression on CD4~+ and CD8~+ T cells and all the subsets in HIV/AIDS patients were sig-nificantly higher than that in the healthy controls (P 0.05). (2) No significant correlations were observed between the levels of apoptosis of all the T cells and subsets and total CD4~+ T cell counts(P>0.05) ,nor with the HIV viral load (P>0.05). (3)As the culture time prolonged in vitro, the levels of apoptosis and necrosis of CD4~6 T cells in HIV/AIDS patients were significantly higher than those in the healthy conlrols, and the CD4~+ T cells were more susceptible to apoptosis and necrosis compared with CD8~+ T cells. Conclusion The levels of T cell apoptosis in HIV/AIDS patients was significantly higher than those in the healthy controls, at the same time, CD4~+ T cells were more susceptible to apoptosis and necrosis compared with CD8~+ T cells, but no correlation was found between the T cell apoptsis and disease progression. 
 
Key words: 
HIV-1 ;  AIDS;  T lymphocyte;  Cell apoptosis