title: Enhanced interferon-gamma by CD8+ CD28- lymphocytes from HIV+ patients.
abstract: Flow cytometric analysis of T cells from HIV+ and normal individuals activated for 15 hr showed that the percentage of cells producing interferon-gamma (INFgamma) was enhanced approximately threefold (39 compared to 14%) in the HIV+ CD8+ population. Activation modes, other than anti-CD3 with PMA, were ineffective, and in no case did the percentage of HIV+ CD4+ T cells show increased INFgamma production over controls. Enhanced INFgamma production was not induced by either anti-CD3 or PMA alone, or anti-CD3 or ConA with anti-CD28, or enhanced by N-acetylcysteine. In contrast to INFgamma production, the percentage of CD4+ T cells producing interleukin-2 (Il-2) greatly exceeded that of the CD8+ T cells. The results from flow cytometry analyses of HIV+ CD8+ T cells was supported by quantitative analysis of INFgamma mRNA (by PCR) and INFgamma secretion by ELISA. These methods showed a sixfold and three- to fivefold increase, respectively, on a per cell basis. As HIV infection progresses, as shown by loss of CD4+ T cells, the proportion of CD8+ CD28- T cells increases, and it is this T cell subset that is responsible for 80% or more of the enhanced INFgamma production. The enhanced INFgamma in HIV+ patients derives from two factors: the increase in CD8+ CD28- cells to 70% and the percentage producing INFgamma (60%, compared to 21% for CD8+ CD28+ cells). Our findings of a substantial increase in INFgamma production in HIV infection arising from the increased number of CD8+ CD28- T cells are compatible with clinical studies which show elevated INFgamma in HIV+ serum and INFgamma producing CD8+ T cells dominating HIV+ lymph nodes. We also found a significantly decreased proliferative response of the HIV+-derived CD8+ T cell fraction with coactivator anti-CD-28, in contrast to PMA (with anti-CD3), which is probably a reflection of the diminished population of CD8+ CD28+ T cells in HIV+ donors compared to normal donors (30.7 compared to 67.9%).
authors.affiliation: Ponce School of Medicine, Department of Biochemistry, Puerto Rico 00732-7004, USA.
authors.forename: E H
authors.initials: EH
authors.lastname: Eylar
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Lefranc
authors.forename: I
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Báez
authors.forename: S L
authors.initials: SL
authors.lastname: Colón-Martinez
authors.forename: Y
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Yamamura
authors.forename: N
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Rodriguez
authors.forename: N
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Yano
authors.forename: T B
authors.initials: TB
authors.lastname: Breithaupt
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D018414:CD8-Positive T-Lymphocytes / Q000276:immunology* / Q000473:pathology; D005434:Flow Cytometry; D015658:HIV Infections / Q000276:immunology* / Q000473:pathology; D006801:Humans; D007371:Interferon-gamma / Q000096:biosynthesis / Q000276:immunology*; D018655:Lymphocyte Count
chemical_list: D007371:Interferon-gamma