Blood plasmacytoid dendritic cells in HIV-1-infected children.

RADIEN S; GADDI E; BIBINI M; SARACCO M; BALBARISYKI J; PANDO MA; CANTISANO C; CANDY M; BARBONI G; GIRAUDI V; SALOMON H; GEFFNER J

Cordoba

Congreso; VII Congress of the Latinamerican Association of Immunology (ALAI).; 2005

Plasmocytoid dendritic cells (PDC) are depleted and their function impaired in advanced adult human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection, but little is known about PDC immune response in perinatally HIV infected children. This is of particular importance because these cells could permit  control of viral infections to be the largest source of type I interferons production. In the present study we evaluated the percentage of circulating PDC (%PDC) and the relationship between their levels and clinical features in HIV infected children. Ninety children with HIV infection and 3 to 16 age- and sex- matched, HIV negative control children were recruited. %PDC was determinated by flow cytometry and each blood sample was also evaluated for viral load and CD4+ cell percentage (%CD4+). The %PDC was significantly lower in below 7-years old HIV infected children (group a) than controls (0.28±  vs 0.49± , HIV+ patients and controls, p< ); however, no significant differences in %PDC was observed in children over 7-years old (group b) (0.26± vs 0.29± , HIV patients and controls; p<). Positive correlation between %PDC and %CD4+ and inversely correlation between %PDC and serum HIV RNA load was observed. It is known that CD4+ cell counts and HIV viral load predict the risk of disease progression and opportunistic infections in adults but in children, %CD4+ is considered to be a better predictor of clinical progression that serum HIV viral load. For this reason, the relationship between the %PDC, %CD4+ and clinical features in both group of HIV infected children was analizated. We found and markedly increased of viral infections in HIV infected children with decreased %PDC that children with normal or increased %PDC, independently of %CD4+. In conclusion, our results indicate that: a) the %PDC are decreased in group a) like HIV infected adults, b) the %PDC was similar in normal controls and group b) unlike adults and c) there is a strong relationship between the presence of viral infections and decreased %PDC for both groups of HIV infected children.