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High levels of CD4+ CTLA-4+ Treg cells and CCR5 density in HIV-1-infected patients with visceral leishmaniasis

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Abstract

Visceral leishmaniasis (VL) in HIV-1-infected patients has been associated with poor immunological recovery and frequent disease relapses. The aim of this study was to analyse the role of T cell populations, Treg cells and CCR5 density in patients with VL compared to HIV-1-infected patients without leishmaniasis. A cross-sectional study of nine Leishmania–HIV-1-coinfected (LH) patients with VL receiving suppressive cART for at least 1 year were compared to 16 HIV-1-infected patients with non-immunological response (NIR, CD4 count below 250 cells/mm3) and 26 HIV-1-infected patients with immunological response (IR, CD4 count above 500 cells/mm3) without leishmaniasis. LH patients had a deep depletion of naïve T cells (p = 0.002), despite similar levels of effector T cells compared to NIR patients. CD4 Treg cells were similar compared to NIR patients, but higher compared to IR patients (p < 0.001). Interestingly, CD4 Treg CTLA-4+ cells were higher in LH patients compared to either NIR or IR patients (p = 0.022 and p < 0.001, respectively), and the CD4 Treg/TEM ratio was similar to NIR patients, but higher compared to IR patients (p = 0.017). CCR5+ T cell levels were higher compared to IR patients (p < 0.001), while CCR5 density on T cells were higher compared to both NIR and IR patients (p < 0.005 in both cases). Higher levels of CD4+ CTLA-4+ Treg cells and CCR5 density on CD8+ T cells are strongly associated with VL in HIV-1-infected patients. Also, these patients have a poor immunological profile that might explain the persistence and relapse of the pathogen.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported, in part, by the Spanish AIDS Network “Red Temática Cooperativa de Investigación en SIDA” (RD06/0006), the Spanish National Health System and “Instituto de Salud Carlos III” grant FIS-PI13-01024.

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The authors have no conflicts of interest.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Infectious Diseases, Instituto Ramón y Cajal de Investigación Sanitaria (IRYCIS), University Hospital Ramón y Cajal, Ctra Colmenar Km 9, 28034, Madrid, Spain

    A. Vallejo, M. Abad-Fernández, S. Moreno, A. Moreno, M. J. Pérez-Elías, F. Dronda & J. L. Casado

  2. Laboratory of Immunovirology, Department of Infectious Diseases, Instituto Ramón y Cajal de Investigación Sanitaria (IRYCIS), University Hospital Ramón y Cajal, Ctra. Colmenar Km 9, 28034, Madrid, Spain

    A. Vallejo & M. Abad-Fernández

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  1. A. Vallejo
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  2. M. Abad-Fernández
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  3. S. Moreno
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  7. J. L. Casado
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Correspondence to A. Vallejo or J. L. Casado.

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Vallejo, A., Abad-Fernández, M., Moreno, S. et al. High levels of CD4+ CTLA-4+ Treg cells and CCR5 density in HIV-1-infected patients with visceral leishmaniasis. Eur J Clin Microbiol Infect Dis 34, 267–275 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10096-014-2229-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10096-014-2229-1

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