1. The impact of pregnancy on the HIV-1-specific T cell function in infected pregnant women
- Author
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Renato Geraldo da Silva Filho, Arnaldo F.B. Andrade, Vander Guimarães, Ariane L. Oliveira, Landi V.C. Guillermo, Bernardo Blanco, Luciana F. Xavier, Cleonice A.M. Bento, Taissa M. Kasahara, Agostinho A. Lima-Silva, Morgana M. M. Vieira, Joana Hygino, and Carmen S.M. Saramago
- Subjects
Adult ,HIV Antigens ,T cell ,Immunology ,HIV Infections ,In Vitro Techniques ,Biology ,Lymphocyte Activation ,Virus Replication ,T-Lymphocytes, Regulatory ,Young Adult ,Immune system ,Antigen ,Pregnancy ,T-Lymphocyte Subsets ,medicine ,Humans ,Immunology and Allergy ,Pregnancy Complications, Infectious ,Infant, Newborn ,FOXP3 ,T lymphocyte ,medicine.disease ,Infectious Disease Transmission, Vertical ,Interleukin-10 ,Interleukin 10 ,medicine.anatomical_structure ,Case-Control Studies ,HIV-1 ,Female ,Tumor necrosis factor alpha - Abstract
Evidences indicate that pregnancy can alter the Ag-specific T-cell responses. This work aims to evaluate the impact of pregnancy on the in vitro HIV-1-specific immune response. As compared with non-pregnant patients, lower T-cell proliferation and higher IL-10 production were observed in T-cell cultures from pregnant patients following addition of either mitogens or HIV-1 antigens. In our system, the main T lymphocyte subset involved in producing IL-10 was CD4(+)FoxP3(-). Depletion of CD4(+) cells elevated TNF-α and IFN-γ production. Interestingly, the in vitro HIV-1 replication was lower in cell cultures from pregnant patients, and it was inversely related to IL-10 production. In these cultures, the neutralization of IL-10 by anti-IL-10 mAb elevated TNF-α release and HIV-1 replication. In conclusion, our results reveal that pregnancy-related events should favor the expansion of HIV-1-specific IL-10-secreting CD4(+) T-cells in HIV-1-infected women, which should, in the scenario of pregnancy, help to reduce the risk of vertical HIV-1 transmission.
- Published
- 2012