2nd National Conference Human Retroviruses and Related Infections Washington, DC - January 29 - February 2, 1995

Natl Conf Hum Retrovir Relat Infect 1995 Jan 29-Feb 2;2: (abstract no. 22)

Meylan PR^1,2, Burgisser P³, Weyrich SC², and Spertini F^3
1Institute of Microbiology, ²Divisions of Infectious Diseases and of Immunology and ³Allergology, CHIV, Lausanne, Switzerland

25 HIV-1 patients (CD4+ T cell range: 4 to 760/µl, median 362) were selected for study of lymph node cells (LNC), obtained by fine needle aspiration (FNA) and PBMC obtained simultaneously. LN aspiration was performed on 21 patients who had accessible LN. LNC, ranging from 6×10³ to 2×10⁶ (median 6×10⁵) were obtained in 17/21 subjects. Immunophenotype could be determined by flow cytometry in 9 patients. Mean % of CD4+CD3+T cells in LNC and PBMC was 23.2 and 14.6. Mean % of CD8+CD3+T cells in LNC and PBMC was 23.1 and 45.0 respectively. CD4+/CD8+ ratios were much higher in LNC (mean/SD: 1.06±0.31) than in PBMC (0.35±0.13). The amount of HIV DNA (11 patients) and RNA (8 patients) was determined in the plasma, LNC and PBMC by competitive (RT)- PCR. The number of copies of viral DNA/10⁵ cells was higher in LNC than in PBMC (LNC/PBMC ratio range: 0.54 to 25, median: 3.4). The number of copies of unspliced viral RNA/10⁵ cells was much higher in LNC than in PBMC (LNC/PBMC ratio range: 65 to 1159, median: 435). A semi-quantitative coculture assay with lymphoblasts from healthy donors was used to assess the infectivity of LNC compared to PBMC in 14 patients. The minimum number of LNC necessary to cause a positive coculture ranged from 10³ to >10⁵ (median 10⁴) while the corresponding number for PBMC ranged from 10³ to >10⁶ (median: 5×10⁵). In patients selected for palpable LN, LNC could be obtained by FNA in a majority of patients. This methodology should allow to monitor the effect of antiviral therapy on the viral load in the lymphoid tissue in a non invasive manner.

Keywords: AIDS Vaccines, Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome, Anti-HIV Agents, Antigens, CD4, Antigens, CD8, CD4-Positive T-Lymphocytes, DNA, Viral, HIV, HIV Infections, HIV Seropositivity, HIV Seroprevalence, HIV-1, Humans, Immunophenotyping, Lymph Nodes, RNA, Viral, Viral Load, immunology, organization & administration

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1995-01-29
22

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