Article ID | Journal | Published Year | Pages | File Type |
---|---|---|---|---|
8956303 | Immunobiology | 2018 | 5 Pages |
Abstract
Progressive HIV infection is marked with reduced frequency and impaired function of Th17 cells. Since T-cell functional responses are regulated by various inhibitory receptors; we examined the expression profile of CTLA-4, PD-1, Tim-3 and apoptotic marker: Caspase-3 on virus-specific Th17 cells from HIV-infected Long-Term Non-Progressors (LTNPs), chronic disease progressors and HIV-uninfected healthy controls (HC) using flowcytometry. Real-time PCR was done to analyze the mRNA expression of Th17 and Treg specific genes. LTNPs showed higher frequencies of HIV-specific Th17 cells; higher mRNA expression of IL-17, IL-22 while lower expression of IL-10; along with lower Caspase-3 expression than the progressors. Among inhibitory receptors, expression of CTLA-4 was 27 and 8 fold; PD-1 was 8 and 6 fold while Tim-3 was 7 and 6 fold higher in progressors and LTNPs respectively than HC. Among HIV-infected patients, LTNPs had 3-fold lower expression of CTLA-4 on HIV-specific Th17 cells than progressors (pâ¯=â¯0.06). Caspase-3+ve Th17 cells were associated with HIV-specific Th17 cells expressing CTLA-4 (râ¯=â¯0.66;pâ¯<â¯0.0001), PD-1 (râ¯=â¯0.40;pâ¯=â¯0.02) and Tim-3 (râ¯=â¯0.35;pâ¯=â¯0.04). To conclude, virus-specific Th17 cells from LTNP maintained IL-17 production, expressed low levels of CTLA-4 and reduced apoptosis. The study suggests that such functional competence of Th17 cells could be one of the factors in maintenance of non-progressive HIV infection.
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Authors
Vandana Saxena, Akshay Patil, Rupali Tayde, Shubhangi Bichare, Varsha Chinchkar, Rajani Bagul, Sheela Godbole, Madhuri Thakar,