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Severe intestinal barrier damage in HIV-infected immunological non-responders.

Authors :: Guo XY
Guo YT
Wang ZR
Jiao YM
Hu Y
Fan LN
Cheng RQ
Qu MM
Zhang C
Song JW
Xu RN
Fan X
Xu W
Zhang JY
Bai BK
Linghu EQ
Chen YK
Ma P
Wang FS
Source :: Heliyon [Heliyon] 2023 Oct 12; Vol. 9 (10), pp. e20790. Date of Electronic Publication: 2023 Oct 12 (Print Publication: 2023).
Publication Year :: 2023
Abstract: The intestinal epithelial barrier plays an important role during human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) disease progression. However, the extent to which the intestinal epithelial barrier is damaged in immunological non-responders (INRs) and immunological responders (IRs) is largely unknown. In this study, we investigated and compared the levels of intestinal gland damage and related molecules, including the tight junction protein claudin-1, apoptosis marker caspase-3, HIV DNA, CD4 <superscript>+</superscript> T cell count, and inflammation marker tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α) among the IRs (n = 10), INRs (n = 8), and healthy controls (HCs, n = 7). Intestinal damage was not completely restored in both INRs and IRs and was more serious in INRs than that in IRs. Moreover, intestinal damage was positively correlated with HIV DNA levels and negatively correlated with CD4 <superscript>+</superscript> T cell counts. These results provide insight into understanding the characteristics of intestinal epithelial barrier damage between IRs and INRs.<br />Competing Interests: The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.<br /> (© 2023 Published by Elsevier Ltd.)