Department of Microbiology and Parasitology, Federal University of the State of Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
Department of Microbiology, Immunology and Parasitology, State University of Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
Am J Reprod Immunol. 2020 Feb;83(2):e13204. doi: 10.1111/aji.13204. Epub 2019 Nov 17.
Pregnancy appears to favor maternal antibody production. In contrast, by damaging follicular helper T cells (T ), HIV-1 infection compromises protective humoural immune response. Therefore, we aimed to investigate the frequency of different T -like cells in HIV-infected pregnant women (PW) before and after antiretroviral (ARV) therapy.
Peripheral blood mononuclear cells, CD4 T and B cells, were obtained from asymptomatic HIV-1-infected non-PW and PW just before and after ARV therapy. In some experiments, healthy HIV-1-negative PW were also tested. The frequency of different T -like cell subsets was determined by flow cytometry. The plasma titers of IgG anti-tetanus toxoid (TT), anti-HBsAg, and anti-gp41 were determined by ELISA. The in vitro production of total IgG, IL-21, and hormones (estrogen and progesterone) was quantified also by ELISA.
Our results demonstrate that antiretroviral (ARV) therapy was more efficient in elevating the percentage of circulating IL-21-secreting T cells in HIV-1-infected pregnant women (PW) than in non-pregnant patients (nPW). Moreover, in co-culture systems, CD4 T cells from ART-treated PW were more efficient in assisting B cells to produce IgG production. The in vivo anti-HBsAg IgG titers after ARV therapy were also significantly higher in PW, and their levels were directly associated with both IL-21 T frequency and plasma concentration of estrogen.
In summary, our results suggest that pregnancy favors the recovery of T -like cells after ARV therapy in HIV-1-infected women, which could help these mothers to protect their newborns from infectious diseases by transferring IgG across the placenta.
妊娠似乎有利于母体抗体的产生。相比之下，HIV-1 感染通过破坏滤泡辅助 T 细胞（Tfh），损害保护性体液免疫反应。因此，我们旨在研究接受抗逆转录病毒（ARV）治疗前后 HIV 感染孕妇（PW）中不同 T 样细胞的频率。
从无症状 HIV-1 感染的非孕妇 PW 和接受 ARV 治疗前和治疗后采集外周血单核细胞、CD4 T 和 B 细胞。在一些实验中，还检测了健康的 HIV-1 阴性 PW。通过流式细胞术测定不同 T 样细胞亚群的频率。通过 ELISA 测定 IgG 抗破伤风类毒素（TT）、抗 HBsAg 和抗 gp41 的血浆滴度。还通过 ELISA 定量测定总 IgG、IL-21 和激素（雌激素和孕激素）的体外产生。
我们的结果表明，抗逆转录病毒（ARV）治疗在提高 HIV-1 感染孕妇（PW）循环中 IL-21 分泌 T 细胞的百分比方面比非孕妇患者（nPW）更有效。此外，在共培养系统中，来自接受 ART 治疗的 PW 的 CD4 T 细胞在协助 B 细胞产生 IgG 产生方面更有效。接受 ARV 治疗后，PW 的体内抗 HBsAg IgG 滴度也显著升高，其水平与 IL-21 T 频率和血浆雌激素浓度直接相关。
总之，我们的结果表明，妊娠有利于接受抗逆转录病毒治疗的 HIV-1 感染女性中 T 样细胞的恢复，这可以帮助这些母亲通过胎盘转移 IgG 来保护新生儿免受传染病的侵害。
