T cell blastogenic responses to Toxoplasma gondii trophozoites among HIV-infected patients.

Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 1996. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.

T cell blastogenic responses to Toxoplasma gondii trophozoites among HIV-infected patients.

AIDS Res Hum Retroviruses. 1995 Jun;11(6):741-6. Unique Identifier : AIDSLINE MED/96078235
Carrega G; Canessa A; Argenta P; Cruciani M; Bassetti D; Department of Infectious Diseases, University of Genoa, Italy.

Abstract: OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the cell-mediated immune response to Toxoplasma gondii (T. gondii) among HIV-infected patients. METHODS: Forty HIV-infected patients were studied. Of them, 35 had antibodies to T. gondii and 5 had not. Nine of 35 patients with detectable serum Toxoplasma antibodies were classified as group A1 (CDC 1993), 10 as group B2, 6 as group B3, and 10 as group C3. Peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) were obtained by Ficoll-Hypaque gradient centrifugation. Living Toxoplasma gondii trophozoites, herpes simplex virus (HSV), tetanus toxoid, and phytohemoagglutinin (PHA) were used in standard proliferation assays. Toxoplasma-responding blasts were expanded and assayed for antigen specificity and HLA restriction by proliferation assays. T cell subsets were analyzed using two-color flow cytometry. RESULTS: Among patients with detectable Toxoplasma serum antibodies, significant PBMC proliferation in response to T. gondii trophozoites was observed in those classified in group A1 or B2 but not in those in groups B3 and C3. Toxoplasma-induced blasts from five of six patients after 7 days of culture and from five patients after 15 days of culture proliferated in response to T. gondii in the presence of either autologous or allogeneic PBMCs as antigen-presenting cells (APCs) and/or also proliferated in response to HSV. The surface markers of T. gondii-induced blasts showed a variable percentage of CD4 and CD8 activated cells. CONCLUSIONS: T cell proliferative response to living trophozoites of T. gondii is lost only in patients with severe depletion of CD4 cells. PBMC proliferation was observed only in patients with previous T. gondii infection, but the T cell blasts generated showed a strong alloreactivity (proliferating in response to allogeneic irradiated PBMCs) and were apparently not antigen specific (proliferating also in response to HSV).

Keywords: Adult Animal Antibodies, Protozoan/BLOOD Antigen-Presenting Cells/IMMUNOLOGY Antigens, CD/ANALYSIS CD4-CD8 Ratio CD4-Positive T-Lymphocytes/*IMMUNOLOGY CD8-Positive T-Lymphocytes/*IMMUNOLOGY Female Human HIV Infections/*IMMUNOLOGY Leukocytes, Mononuclear/IMMUNOLOGY *Lymphocyte Transformation/DRUG EFFECTS Male Middle Age Phytohemagglutinins/PHARMACOLOGY Simplexvirus/IMMUNOLOGY Support, Non-U.S. Gov't T-Lymphocyte Subsets Tetanus Toxoid/PHARMACOLOGY Toxoplasma/*IMMUNOLOGY JOURNAL ARTICLE
960228
M9621015

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