title: Selective stimulation of CD4+ versus CD8+ T-cell subsets in symptomatic and asymptomatic HIV-1-infected individuals.
abstract: To analyze the proliferative capacity of CD4+ or CD8+ T-cell subsets of individuals infected with human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) and to optimize the in vitro conditions for virus replication, CD4+ or CD8+ cells of HIV-1-infected patients were selectively activated inside the whole peripheral blood mononuclear cell (PMNC) population by dual antibody stimulation. To do so PMNC of HIV-1-infected individuals were stimulated with the per se nonmitogenic anti-CD3 antibody fragment BMA030 F(ab)2 crosslinked through goat antimouse antibodies with an anti-CD4 or an anti-CD8 antibody, which lead to selective proliferation of either the CD4+ or the CD8+ T-cell subset. In the presence of monocyte supernatant and recombinant interleukin-2 (rIL2) CD4+ cells of HIV-1 patients responded normally upon such stimulation as their proliferation correlated (r = 0.9) to the percentage CD4+ cells present in the PMNC population. Selective stimulation and proliferation of CD8+ cells could, however, only partially be elicited by dual antibody stimulation, even in the presence of rIL-2 and monocyte supernatant. Their proliferative response did not correspond (r = 0.1) to the percentage CD8+ cells present in the PMNC culture. A positive correlation (r = 0.7) was detected only between percentage CD8+ HLA-DR- cells and proliferation. This confirmed previous studies showing that the defective in vitro proliferative response of peripheral blood lymphocytes of HIV-infected individuals to mitogens, which is usually interpreted being due to a CD4 cell defect, is actually due to a failure of CD8+DR+ cells to proliferate.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
authors.affiliation: Institute for Clinical Immunology, Inselspital, Bern, Switzerland.
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Bettens
authors.forename: C E
authors.initials: CE
authors.lastname: Pichler
authors.forename: B
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Herrmann
authors.forename: A L
authors.initials: AL
authors.lastname: de Weck
authors.forename: W J
authors.initials: WJ
authors.lastname: Pichler
mesh_terms: D000961:Antilymphocyte Serum; D015704:CD4 Antigens; D016827:CD8 Antigens; D015658:HIV Infections / Q000276:immunology* / Q000382:microbiology; D015497:HIV-1 / Q000502:physiology; D006684:HLA-DR Antigens; D006801:Humans; D066298:In Vitro Techniques; D008213:Lymphocyte Activation; D016176:T-Lymphocyte Subsets / Q000276:immunology* / Q000382:microbiology; D014779:Virus Replication
chemical_list: D000961:Antilymphocyte Serum; D015704:CD4 Antigens; D016827:CD8 Antigens; D006684:HLA-DR Antigens