Jiao Yang, Li Tai-sheng, Xie Jing, Han Yang, Qiu Zhi-feng, Zuo Ling-yan, Mourez Thomas, Wang Ai-xia
Department of Infectious Disease, Peking Union Medical College Hospital and AIDS Research Center, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences, Beijing 100730, China.
Chin Med J (Engl). 2006 Oct 5;119(19):1609-15.
The correlation between HIV-1 Nef-specific CD8 T-cell responses and markers of HIV-1 disease progression still remains unclear. This study analysed and compared the role of HIV-1 Nef-specific CD8 T-cell responses in patients with different disease status.
Two groups of patients with HIV-1 subtype B infection were selected according to CD4 count and clinical manifestations: long-term nonprogressors (LTNPs, n = 20) and advanced progressors (APs, CD4 count < 500 cells/microl, n = 34). Nef-specific CD8 T-cell responses were studied by interferon-gamma ELISpot assay against 3 pools of HIV-Nef peptides.
Nef-specific CD8 T-cell responses did not correlate with viral load or CD4 count in all patients and no significant differences were found in the magnitude of Nef-specific CD8 T-cell responses between groups LTNPs and APs (670 SFC/10(6) peripheral blood mononuclear cells vs 1107 SFC/10(6) peripheral blood mononuclear cells, P = 0.255). Further comparisons showed that there were also no significant correlations observed in group LTNPs, but Nef-specific CD8 T cells correlated negatively with viral load (r = -0.397, P = 0.020) and positively with CD4 count (r = 0.364, P = 0.034) in group APs.
These data suggest that different correlation patterns between Nef-specific CD8 T-cell responses and disease progression exist in LTNPs and APs. Although a negative association was observed with concurrent plasma HIV RNA in APs, Nef-specific CD8 T-cell responses might fail to play a protective role in different stages of HIV-1 infection.
HIV-1 Nef特异性CD8 T细胞反应与HIV-1疾病进展标志物之间的相关性仍不清楚。本研究分析并比较了HIV-1 Nef特异性CD8 T细胞反应在不同疾病状态患者中的作用。
根据CD4计数和临床表现选择两组B型HIV-1感染患者：长期不进展者（LTNP，n = 20）和进展期患者（AP，CD4计数<500个细胞/微升，n = 34）。通过针对3组HIV-Nef肽的干扰素-γ ELISpot试验研究Nef特异性CD8 T细胞反应。
在所有患者中，Nef特异性CD8 T细胞反应与病毒载量或CD4计数均无相关性，LTNP组和AP组之间Nef特异性CD8 T细胞反应的强度也未发现显著差异（670个斑点形成细胞/10⁶外周血单个核细胞对1107个斑点形成细胞/10⁶外周血单个核细胞，P = 0.255）。进一步比较显示，LTNP组也未观察到显著相关性，但在AP组中，Nef特异性CD8 T细胞与病毒载量呈负相关（r = -0.397，P = 0.020），与CD4计数呈正相关（r = 0.364，P = 0.034）。
这些数据表明，LTNP和AP中Nef特异性CD8 T细胞反应与疾病进展之间存在不同的相关模式。尽管在AP中观察到与同期血浆HIV RNA呈负相关，但Nef特异性CD8 T细胞反应可能无法在HIV-1感染的不同阶段发挥保护作用。
