title: Interleukin-2-inducible natural immune (lymphokine-activated killer cell) responses as a functional correlate of progression to AIDS.
abstract: The functions of natural killer (NK) cells and their interleukin-2-deducible counterparts, lymphokine-activated killer (LAK) cells, are often impaired in human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-infected individuals. A statistical approach was used to establish if changes in LAK activity were associated with antiviral drug therapy, HIV-1 burden, or lymphocyte subset alterations. Our study group included 61 HIV-positive subjects without any opportunistic infections (OI-), 16 of whom received zidovudine (AZT), and 97 HIV-positive individuals with AIDS-related infection (OI+), 50 of whom received AZT. As expected, there was a stepwise decrease in total lymphocyte numbers in OI+ groups as a result of the selective loss of CD4+ cells. The groups receiving AZT therapy had fewer CD4+ cells but lower circulating p24 antigen levels than corresponding untreated groups did. No significant changes in the relative proportions or absolute numbers of CD56+ subsets in HIV-positive groups could be ascribed to OI status or AZT intervention. LAK cell cytotoxic responses, measured as LU20 values (which give a measure of 20% cytolysis of target cells), lysis per unit CD56+ NK cell, or lysis per unit blood volume, declined in OI+ groups. No main or interactive effects of AZT therapy on LAK activities were observed. Multivariate general linear models were used to determine the interactive effects of NK- and T-cell subsets on measured LAK cell numbers were added negative and positive predictors of LAK activity, respectively. These findings indicate that declines in NK-mediated LAK cell responses serve as functional correlates of progression in HIV-infected individuals.
authors.affiliation: McGill AIDS Centre, Lady Davis Institute--Jewish General Hospital, Montreal, Quebec, Canada.
authors.forename: B G
authors.initials: BG
authors.lastname: Brenner
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Gornitsky
authors.forename: M A
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Wainberg
mesh_terms: D017088:AIDS-Related Opportunistic Infections / Q000276:immunology; D000163:Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome / Q000276:immunology*; D015496:CD4-Positive T-Lymphocytes / Q000276:immunology; D019002:CD56 Antigen / Q000032:analysis; D006801:Humans; D007113:Immunity, Innate / Q000276:immunology; D007376:Interleukin-2 / Q000494:pharmacology*; D015979:Killer Cells, Lymphokine-Activated / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000276:immunology*; D016014:Linear Models; D018655:Lymphocyte Count; D015999:Multivariate Analysis; D016176:T-Lymphocyte Subsets / Q000166:cytology / Q000276:immunology; D015215:Zidovudine / Q000494:pharmacology
chemical_list: D019002:CD56 Antigen; D007376:Interleukin-2; D015215:Zidovudine