Immunologic investigation of Chinese hemophiliacs with and without human immunodeficiency virus infection.

Cellular and humoral immune functions in Chinese hemophiliacs with and without human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection were compared with those of healthy controls. There was a significant increase in peripheral T8 cells and a significant decrease of peripheral T4 cells as well as the T4/T8 ratio in 3 hemophiliacs with HIV infection when compared with 26 hemophiliacs without HIV infection and 18 healthy controls (P less than 0.005, P less than 0.05 and P less than 0.002, respectively). In contrast, there were no statistical differences in the above mentioned parameters between hemophiliacs without HIV infection and healthy controls. All the three HIV seropositive hemophiliacs had anergy for 1:2000 OT test whereas among the 15 HIV seronegative hemophiliacs, only two had anergy for 1:2000 OT test. These results demonstrate that the immunological abnormalities of the 3 HIV seropositive hemophiliacs were attributed to HIV infection, and that even though hemophiliacs without HIV infection had been treated with blood products, their immune functions are generally normal. These findings are somewhat different from those reported abroad. This difference may be due to the fact that Chinese hemophiliacs are often treated with much smaller dose of blood products as a part of the treatment of their coagulative defects.