目的:比较黑龙江省HIV/AIDS患者与健康对照者(healthy controls,HCs)外周血CD4+CD25+FoxP3+调节性T细胞数量、免疫抑制功能的变化,探讨CD4+CD25+FoxP3+调节性T细胞在HIV/AIDS感染过程中的作用。方法:采用流式细胞仪检测21例HIV/AIDS患者及20例健康对照组的外周血CD4+CD25+FoxP3+调节性T细胞数量的百分比及绝对数量;采用共同培养方法检测HIV/AIDS患者外周血CD4+CD25+FoxP3+调节性T细胞免疫抑制功能的变化;实时荧光定量聚合酶链反应(RT-FQ-PCR)检测HIV/AIDS患者外周血CD4+CD25+FoxP3+调节性T细胞中FoxP3mRNA的表达。结果:黑龙江省HIV/AIDS患者外周血CD4+CD25+FoxP3+调节性T细胞比率明显高于HCs(P<0.01),而CD4+CD25+FoxP3+调节性T细胞的绝对计数显著下降,且与CD4+T细胞绝对计数成反比;混合淋巴细胞共同培养结果显示,HIV/AIDS患者外周血CD4+CD25+FoxP3+调节性T细胞的抑制功能无明显变化;HIV/AIDS患者外周血CD4+CD25+FoxP3+调节性T细胞的FoxP3 mRNA相对表达量无显著变化。结论:黑龙江省HIV/AIDS患者CD4+CD25+FoxP3+调节性T细胞的数量变化与病情相关。
Objective: To analyze the number,suppressive function of CD4+CD25+FoxP3+ regulatory T cells in peripheral blood from patients with HIV/AIDS and healthy controls and to vestigate the role of CD4+CD25+FoxP3+ regulatory T cells in the process of HIV/AIDS.Methods: Flow cytometry was used to analyze the frequency of CD4+CD25+FoxP3+ regulatory T cells from 21 patients with HIV/AIDS and 20 healthy controls;Functional characterization of Tregs from the peripheral blood mononuclear cells(PBMC) of patients and healthy controls were analyzed by suppression of proliferation by co-cultured effector CD4+CD25+ T cells.Foxp3 message(mRNA) expression level was assessed by quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction.Results: A significantly increased relative frequency of CD4+CD25+FoxP3+ regulatory T cells within the CD4 compartment of HIV/AIDS patients compared to that of healthy controls(P<0.0001) was observed.Additionally,there was a significant negative correlation between the frequency of CD4+CD25+FoxP3+ regulatory T cells and CD4 count,despite HIV/AIDS patients having lower absolute counts of CD4+CD25+FoxP3+ regulatory T cells.On the other hand,HIV/AIDS-derived CD4+CD25+FoxP3+ T cells and that from healthy individuals exhibited equal FOXP3-expression of mRNA and their ability of suppressing the proliferation and cytokine secretion of CD4+ effector T cells was unimpaired in HIV/AIDS patients.Conclusions: These results suggest that the frequency of CD4+CD25+FoxP3+ regulatory T cells in HIV/AIDS patients of Heilongjiang Province signifi-cantly correated with disease progression.