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Aim: To determine the significance of immune factors in the pathogenesis of kidney injuries in HIV infection, by investigating the cellular and cytokine components of an immune response., Materials and Methods: Thirty HIV-infected patients (mean age 31.7±6.2 years) with chronic kidney disease (CKD) were examined. A comparison group consisted of 10 HIV-infected patients without signs of kidney injury. A control group included 24 healthy individuals to analyze immune status and 15 people to estimate the normal values of the cytokine composition. The cellular composition of lymphocytes on a typical immunogram was determined on a flow cytofluorometer; the serum concentrations of cytokines were measured on a multichannel photometer., Results: The HIV-infected patients with kidney injury displayed significant reductions in the absolute (0.2·109/l and 0.4·109/l, respectively; р=0.015) and relative (14.75 and 22%, respectively; р=0.005) counts of CD3+/CD4+ cells and in the immunoregulatory index (0.2 and 0.4, respectively; р=0.014) as compared to those in HIV-infected patients without kidney disease (р≤0.05) with a rise in the number of cytotoxic T cells (CD3+/CD8+). The HIV-infected patients showed a preponderance of immunosuppressive cytokine compositions, as indicated by the high levels of transforming growth factor-β (a more than 50-fold increase) and by a statistically significant rise in the level of tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α) (with CD4+ lymphocyte counts more or less than 200 cells/µl - 19.0 and 24.2 pg/ml, respectively; p=0.017; with HIV RNA levels more and less than 100,000 copies/ml - 24.4 and 19.7 pg/ml, respectively; p=0.012)., Conclusion: The HIV-infected patients with CKD developed kidney injury in the presence of a more pronounced decrease in blood T helper lymphocyte subpopulation levels with a predominance of proinflammatory and immunosuppressive responses. TNF-α in combination with immunosuppression and high viral loads was established to play a leading role in the development of kidney injury in HIV infection.

Aim: To evaluate the clinical and morphological variants of kidney abnormalities in HIV-infected patients., Subjects and Methods: Thirty HIV-infected patients (60% men and 40% women) aged 26 to 54 years (mean age 31.6 +/- 4.7 years) who had undergone diagnostic needle renal biopsy were examined. The indication for the biopsy was nephrotic syndrome (NS) (isolated or concurrent acute nephritic syndrome) and/or decreased renal function. The morphological study of biopsy specimens included light microscopy and immunofluorescence assay., Results: In the examined HIV-infected patients, the histological variants of kidney abnormalities presented with immune complex glomerulonephritis (ICGN) in 26 cases and with focal segmental glomerulosclerosis (FSGS) in 4 cases. The clinical manifestations of ICGN were as follows: NS (61.5%), acute nephritic syndrome (in more than one third of the patients) concurrent with hematuria, as well as mainly grades 2-3 arterial hypertension (AH) (12/14) and renal dysfunction. Immune complex glomerulopathies were marked by polymorphism in the renal morphological pattern with fluorescence during immunofluorescence microscopy in most cases of virtually all classes of immunoglobulins (IgA, IgM, IgG) and complement system fragments (C3, C1q). FSGS was clinically characterized by NS concurrent with AH, hematuria. The morphological subtypes of FSGS were exhibited by apical, perihilar, and nonspecific variants in 1, 1, and 2 cases, respectively. By the time the signs of renal dysfunction appeared, the HIV-infected patients with glomerulopathy were found to have a high viral load (HIV RNA >100 000 copies/ml) and low CD4 lymphocyte levels (< or = 200 in 1 microl)., Conclusion: In our study, the morphological pattern of chronic glomerulonephritis showed a preponderance of immune complex nephropathies with the clinical manifestations of acute nephritic syndrome and/or NS concurrent with hematuria. High viremia and depressed immune system may be risk factors for nephropathy.

Renal damage in HIV infection may result from direct action of HIV and from other causes including nephrotoxic action of medicines. HIV-infected patients receive a wide spectrum of medicines and can be placed in a risk group of drug-induced damage to the kidneys. Risk of nephrotoxicity should be considered in administration of antiretrovirus drugs in HIV patients. Strategy of preventive measures in relation to pharmacological harm to the kidneys consists in early detection of patients with high risk and correction of modifiable risk factors.