[A cross-sectional study on the effect of virological response after HAART on subsets of T lymphocytes and expression of CD127 in pediatric AIDS patients with different viral loads].

OBJECTIVES: To study the effect of HAART on subsets of T lymphocytes and expression of CD127 on memory and naїve CD4(+) and CD8(+)T cells in pediatric AIDS patients with different viral loads receiving HAART. METHOD: A cross- sectional study on 194 pediatric AIDS patients receiving HAART was carried out and 52 age matched healthy children were recruited as controls. The percentage of CD4(+), CD8(+), CD8(+)CD45RA(+)CD127(+/-), CD8(+)CD45RO(+)CD127(+/-), CD4(+)CD45RA(+)CD127(+/-) and CD4(+)CD45RO(+)CD127(+/-)T cells was tested using flow cytometry, and HIV-RNA in plasma was detected by quantitative RT-PCR. RESULT: The percentage of memory (CD45RO(+)) CD4(+)T cells decreased to (45.73 ± 8.85)%, and that of naїve (CD45RA(+)) CD4(+) and memory CD8(+)T increased to (60.44 ± 5.01)% and (54.69 ± 7.71) % respectively in the pediatric AIDS patients vs. controls (P < 0.05). The percentage of naїve (CD45RA(+)) CD4(+)T cells of patients with viral load (VL) < 400 copies/ml was (65.57 ± 5.33) %, which was significantly higher than that of patients with VL ≥ 400 copies/ml (P < 0.05).Of patients with VL < 400 copies/ml, the percentage of CD4(+)CD127(+)T cells, especially the subset of memory CD4(+)CD127(+)T cells was (82.35 ± 2.31)%, which was higher than that of patients with VL ≥ 400 copies/ml, but lower than that of controls (P < 0.05). The percentage of memory and naїve CD8(+)CD127(+)T cells was lower than that of controls (P < 0.05). CONCLUSION: The recovery of CD4(+)T cell subsets in pediatric AIDS patients is associated with viral load. Effective HAART can increase the percentage of naїve CD4(+)T cells and the life of memory CD4(+)T cells.