title: Interleukin-21 plays an important role in CD8 T-cell activation and poor outcome in HIV infection.
abstract: To present the relationship between high CD8+ T-cell activation and poor outcome in HIV-1 pathogenesis. We hypothesized that the decrease of interleukin-21 (IL-21) levels would lead to alterations in survival of elevated immune activation with disease progress. Fifty-eight HIV-1-seropositive subjects and 21 uninfected healthy control volunteers were recruited in this study. The serum IL-21 concentrations and the levels of expression of CD38, HLA-DR, and IL-21 receptor in CD8 T cells were detected by flow cytometry. The percentages of both CD38 and HLA-DR cells in CD8 T cells were significantly inversely related to the serum IL-21 levels. IL-21 plays an important role in the mechanism of elevated CD8+ T cell immune activation leading to poor outcome in HIV-1 pathogenesis, which will be helpful for the development of current and future anti-HIV strategies.
authors.affiliation: AIDS Research Laboratory, Department of Infectious Diseases, Central South University, Second Xiangya Hospital, Changsha, China.
authors.forename: Hua-Ying
authors.initials: HY
authors.lastname: Zhou
authors.forename: Yu-Huang
authors.initials: YH
authors.lastname: Zheng
authors.forename: Yan
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: He
authors.forename: Zi
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.forename: Mei
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: He
authors.forename: Yun-Hai
authors.initials: YH
authors.lastname: Yao
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D018106:CD28 Antigens / Q000097:blood / Q000276:immunology; D018414:CD8-Positive T-Lymphocytes / Q000276:immunology / Q000378:metabolism*; D018572:Disease-Free Survival; D005260:Female; D015658:HIV Infections / Q000097:blood* / Q000276:immunology / Q000401:mortality*; D015497:HIV-1; D006684:HLA-DR Antigens / Q000097:blood / Q000276:immunology; D006801:Humans; D007378:Interleukins / Q000097:blood* / Q000276:immunology; D008213:Lymphocyte Activation; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D015996:Survival Rate; D000098546:Interleukin-21
chemical_list: D018106:CD28 Antigens; D006684:HLA-DR Antigens; D007378:Interleukins; D000098546:Interleukin-21