Background

Scarce data are available about immune cell frequencies in HIV-positive recipients of liver transplant. Alterations in immune subsets can lead to persistent immune activation and disease progression or reduced HIV-specific responses. In liver transplantation, impaired immune tolerance can lead to organ rejection.

Methods

HIV-positive subjects with undetectable HIVRNA and CD4 > 100/mm³ were included. Control groups were non-transplanted HIV-positive patients with similar immunovirological parameters and healthy subjects. B cells (memory, transitional, and mature subsets), T cells (effector TH1, nonclassic TH1, TH17, TH1/17; T regulatory naïve and effector subsets and CD8⁺ T regulatory cells), and NK cells (CD56^dim and CD56^bright subsets) were analyzed by flow cytometry.

Results

A total of 56 patients, including 14 HIV-positive transplant recipients (HIV-LT), 14 HIV-positive controls, and 28 healthy controls were included. Median age of HIV-LT patients was 54.9 years with median time from transplant of 7.6 years. Eleven (79%) were HIV/HCV coinfected. Compared to nontransplanted patients, HIV-LT displayed significantly increased frequency of T CD8⁺ cells, lower percentage of T CD4+ cell, and lower number of nonclassic TH1, TH1/17 cells and naïve T CD4⁺ regulatory cells (Tregs). Healthy controls showed increased numbers of B cell subsets and decreased percentage of T effector subpopulations compared to HIV-LT. Compared to HIV-positive patients, healthy controls had higher B cells, NK cells, CD4⁺ T cells, naïve CD4+ Tregs but lower CD8⁺ T cells, effector Tregs, CD8⁺ Tregs, and all T effector cell subsets.

Conclusions

Immune cell subpopulations potentially associated with HIV progression and organ rejection were detected in HIV-positive transplant recipients. We confirmed altered frequencies of B, T, and NK cell populations in HIV-positive liver transplant recipients compared to healthy controls. The imbalance among immune cell subsets deserves further studies to identify markers of transplant outcome and potential therapeutic targets.

中文翻译：

---

HIV阳性肝移植接受者的免疫学特征。

背景

关于肝移植的HIV阳性接受者中免疫细胞频率的可用数据很少。免疫亚群的改变可导致持续的免疫激活和疾病进展或减少的HIV特异性反应。在肝移植中，免疫耐受性降低可导致器官排斥。

方法

包括无法检测到HIVRNA和CD4> 100 / mm ^3的HIV阳性受试者。对照组是具有相似免疫病毒学参数的非移植HIV阳性患者和健康受试者。B细胞（记忆，过渡和成熟子集），T细胞（效应子TH1，非经典TH1，TH17，TH1 / 17； T调节幼稚和效应子集以及CD8 ⁺ T调节细胞）和NK细胞（CD56^暗和CD56^亮通过流式细胞仪分析。

结果

总共包括56位患者，包括14位HIV阳性移植受者（HIV-LT），14位HIV阳性对照和28位健康对照。HIV-LT患者的中位年龄为54.9岁，而移植的中位时间为7.6年。HIV / HCV共感染11例（79％）。与未移植的患者相比，HIV-LT显着增加了T CD8 ⁺细胞的频率，降低了T CD4 +细胞的百分比，并减少了非经典TH1，TH1 / 17细胞和未处理的T CD4 ⁺调节细胞（Tregs）的数量。与HIV-LT相比，健康对照组的B细胞亚群数量增加，T效应子亚群百分比降低。与HIV阳性患者相比，健康对照组的B细胞，NK细胞，CD4 ⁺ T细胞，幼稚的CD4 + Treg较高，但CD8较低⁺ T细胞，效应Treg，CD8 ⁺ Treg和所有T效应细胞亚群。

结论

在HIV阳性移植受者中检测到可能与HIV进展和器官排斥相关的免疫细胞亚群。我们确认与健康对照组相比，HIV阳性肝移植受者中B，T和NK细胞群体的频率发生了变化。免疫细胞亚群之间的失衡值得进一步研究，以确定移植结果和潜在治疗靶标的标志。