The correlation between the expression of programmed death-1 and the complication of opportunistic infection in HIV/AIDS patients

Objective To investigate the correlation between the expression of Programmed death-1(PD-1) on T lymphocytes and the complication of opportunistic infection in HIV/AIDS patients.Methods The anticoagulant blood samples from 42 health controls and 42 untreated HIV/AIDS patients who had been hospitalized between January 2009 and May 2012 were collected for detection of PD-1 expression on CD4+T cells and CD8+T cells by flow-cytometry.The correlation of PD-1 and complication of opportunistic infection was analyzed.Results Significant up-regulation of PD-1 on CD4+T cell and CD8+T cell was revealed in HIV/AIDS complicated with opportunistic infection than those without opportunistic infection or healthy controls(P0.05),and so it was in those without opportunistic infection than healthy controls(P0.05).The expression of PD-1 was significantly negatively correlated with CD4+T cell counts(CD4+PD-1: r=-0.371,P0.05;CD8+PD-1: r=-0.479,P0.05) and positively correlated with plasma viral loads(CD4+PD-1: r=0.340,P0.05;CD8+PD-1: r=0.360,P0.05).The opportunistic infection rate was 100%(24/24) in HIV/AIDS with CD4+T cell counts200 cell/μL,as the PD-1 positive rates on CD4+T and CD8+T cells were 20.30% and 23.28%,respectively.The opportunistic infection rate was 12.50%(1/8) in HIV/AIDS with CD4+T cell counts between 300 and 400 cell/μL,as the of PD-1 positive rates on CD4+T and on CD8+T cells were 16.11% and 16.83%,respectively.Conclusion The expression of PD-1 on lymphocytes is closely associated with the complication of opportunistic infection in HIV/AIDS patients,acting as a marker of disease progression.