Microbicidal Activity of Neutrophils Isolated from HIV Patients

HIV infection is associated with a progressive loss of T cell functional capacity and reduced responsiveness to antigenic stimuli. Neutrophils are crucial cellular components of the innate immune system. Current study evaluates the functional activity of neutrophils isolated from HIV/AIDS patients with similar clinical laboratory parameters differing only in the use of antiretroviral therapy (HAART). Two patients HIV/AIDS patients, a female and a male, were selected for this study, based on clinical history, general physical examination and laboratory tests. Further, two apparently healthy volunteers of the same age and gender former de control group. Neutrophils isolated from human peripheral blood were placed in contact with the yeast in a proportion of 1:10 leukocytes for 1 hour. PMN Fluorescence was detected in FL1 on a flow cytometer and results were recorded as fluorescence intensity and percentage of positive cells in the sample. HOCl formation was monitored by spectrophotometry based on the resulting taurine chloramine-forming reaction of hypochlorous acid with taurine. The experiments revealed that patient I with HAART had a 17.3% lower response activity of neutrophils when compared with the control in the production of hypochlorous acid with PMA stimulation. Patient II, who did not use HAART, was 81% less active than the control in the production of hypochlorous acid. The two patients had similar clinical laboratory parameters differing only in the number of CD4 cells, which was higher in Patient II. Results show that the patient submitted to antiretroviral treatment had a better quality of functional response of neutrophils although with fewer CD4 cells.