title: Study of spontaneous apoptosis in HIV+ patients: correlation with clinical progression and T cell loss.
abstract: In vitro spontaneous apoptosis (SA) of lymphocytes was studied in HIV infection to evaluate possible clinical and prognostic correlations, in a transsectional study of 101 individuals in different clinical categories and in a prospective longitudinal study of 18 asymptomatic individuals (mean follow-up, 17.2 months). The rate of SA was higher in HIV+ patients than in healthy controls (p < 0.001) and was higher in patients with AIDS than in the other HIV+ individuals (p < 0.001). It was inversely correlated with the peripheral blood CD4+ (R -0.61; p < 0.001) and CD8+ (R -0.46; p < 0.001) cell numbers. In a group of long-term survivors (LTS), it was significantly lower than in a control group of asymptomatic HIV+ patients with a similar number of circulating CD4+ lymphocytes but a shorter follow-up (p < 0.02). In the five asymptomatic HIV-infected individuals who showed a clinical progression, peaks of SA rates above the normal range before the clinical event were much more frequent than in those who remained asymptomatic (p < 0.0001), even though they were fairly homogeneous as far as CD4+ cell count and viral load were concerned. The median levels of SA rates were moreover correlated with the rate of total T cell loss (R -0.46; p 0.053). This study suggests that evaluation of the SA levels may provide a predictive factor for clinical and immunological progression of HIV-related immunodeficiencies and strengthen the hypothesis for the role of this phenomenon in the pathogenesis of this progression.
authors.affiliation: Clinical Immunology Unit, Spedali Civili, Brescia, Italy.
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Prati
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Gorla
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Malacarne
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Airò
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Brugnoni
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Gargiulo
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Tebaldi
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Castelli
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Carosi
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Cattaneo
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D017209:Apoptosis; D018791:CD4 Lymphocyte Count; D015496:CD4-Positive T-Lymphocytes / Q000166:cytology; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D015658:HIV Infections / Q000473:pathology*; D006801:Humans; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D008212:Lymphocyte Depletion; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011446:Prospective Studies; D017741:Survivors; D019562:Viral Load