Expression of CD127 of T lymphocytes in peripheral blood of patients with HIV-1/AIDS and its clinical significance

OBJECTIVE To study the expression of CD127 on CD4+ and CD8+ T lymphocytes of HIV-1/AIDS patients with or without HAART,and the relationship with disease progression.METHODS A cross-section study of 48 AIDS patients without HAART and 57 AIDS patients receiving HAART was carried out and healthy people were recruited as controls.The percentage of CD4+CD127+ and CD8+CD127+ T cells was tested using flow cytometry.HIV-RNA in plasma of HIV-1/AIDS patients was detected by quantitative RT-PCR.RESULTS The percentage of CD4+CD127+ and CD8+CD127+ T cells in AIDS patients without HAART was higher than that of AIDS patients receiving HAART and controls,which decreased with the increase of HIV-1 load.The percentage of CD4+CD127+ and CD8+CD127+ T cells in AIDS patients receiving HAART was still lower than controls.Expression of CD127 on T lymphocytes was related to CD4+T cell count,which was highly expressed with higher CD4+T cell count.CONCLUSION Expression of CD127 on peripheral lymphocytes of HIV-1/AIDS patients decreases significantly and can be increased by effective HAART,which can stimulate the count and function of T lymphocytes of HIV-1/AIDS patients.