Impaired Thymic Output Can Be Related to the Low Immune Reconstitution and T Cell Repertoire Disturbances in Relapsing Visceral Leishmaniasis Associated HIV/AIDS Patients.
Abstract
Background: Visceral leishmaniasis/HIV-co-infected patients (VL/HIV) accounts for around 8% of VL reported cases in Brazil. Relapses of Leishmania infection after anti-leishmanial treatment constitute a great challenge in the clinical practice because of the disease severity and drug resistance. We have shown that non-relapsing-VL/HIV (NR-) evolved with increase of CD4+ T-cell counts and reduction of activated CD4+ and CD8+ T cells after anti-leishmanial treatment. This immune profile was not observed in relapsing-VL/HIV patients (R-), indicating a more severe immunological compromising degree. Elevated activation status may be related to a deficient immune reconstitution and could help to explain the frequent relapses in VL/HIV co-infection. Our aim was to evaluate if this gain of T cells was related to changes in the peripheral TCRVβ repertoire and inflammatory status, as well as the possible thymus involvement in the replenishment of these newly formed T lymphocytes. Methods: VL/HIV patients, grouped into non-relapsing (NR- = 6) and relapsing (R- = 12) were evaluated from the active phase up to 12 months post-treatment (mpt). HIV-infected patients (non-VL) and healthy subjects (HS) were included. The TCRVβ repertoire was eva...Continue Reading
References
Citations
Methods Mentioned
Software Mentioned
Related Concepts
Related Feeds
Antibody Repertoire Diversity
Antibody repertoire diversity and its role during natural infection is a prerequisite for molecular and structural elucidation of functionally protective immunity. Discover the latest insights into antibody diversity here.