Study on activation of T lymphocytes and the correlation between activation and coreceptor expression of HIV-1 infected patients
Objective To investigate the activation of T lymphocytes and the T lymphocytes expressing coreceptor CCR5, CXCR4, their association with the disease progression. Methods 24 HIV 1 infected patients and 13 normal controls were tested and a three color flow cytometry was used to detect the activation marker HLA DR and the coreceptor CCR5, CXCR4 expressions in blood samples taken from the patients and the controls. Results The HLA DR expression on CD8 + T lymphocytes of HIV 1 infected patients was higher than controls ( P 0.001); The T lymphocytes of HIV 1 infected patients expressed CCR5 and CXCR4 also showed higher activation levels than the controls( P 0.001); The HLA DR expression on the CCR5 + T lymphocytes of HIV 1 infected patients was higher than its expression on the CXCR4 + T lymphocytes ( P 0.001). The activation of T lymphocytes significantly correlated with the change of CD4 percentage. Conclusion The activation of lymphocytes and the CD8 + T lymphocytes expressed CCR5, CXCR4 are significantly higher in HIV 1 infected patients than that in normal controls, and the greater activation correlates with advancing disease.