Correlation between the level of CXCR5+CD4+T cells in peripheral blood and HIV viral load of HIV-infected patients.

Objective To analyse the correlation between CXCR5+CD4+ follicular helper T cell (TFH) level and HIV viral load in HIV infected patients. Methods Totally 100 HIV infected patients admitted to Fourth People's Hospital of Qinghai Province from January 2019 to December 2020 were collected, and divided into A group (23 cases, CD4⁺T lymphocyte counts <200/μL) and B group (77 cases, 200 /μL ≤CD4⁺T lymphocyte counts <500/μL), and 80 healthy persons were collected as control group. The HIV viral loads, CD4⁺T lymphocyte counts and TFH levels of each group were detected, the correlation was analyzed. Results The HIV viral load of A group [(4.70±1.13)log/mL] was higher than B group [(2.74±0.74) log/mL] (P<0.05). The CD4⁺T lymphocyte counts of three groups [(113.64 ± 23.44) /μL, (334.10 ± 31.52) /μL, (995.41 ± 49.23) /μL] were significantly different (P<0.05). As compared with control group [(194.85±25.78) /μL], the TFH cell counts of A group [(18.63± 5.67) /μL] and B group [(59.35±13.73) /μL] were lower (P<0.05); the TFH cell percentage of A group [(15.83±4.05)%] and B group [(17.57±5.08)%] was lower than control group [(19.59±4.25)%] (P<0.05). The Pearson correlation analysis showed that HIV viral load was negatively correlated with CD4⁺T lymphocyte count and TFH cell count (P<0.05). Conclusion The HIV viral load in HIV infected patients was negatively correlated with CD4⁺T lymphocyte count and TFH cell count, which could be superior diagnosis and prognosis indexes and new target of immunotherapy for HIV infected patients. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]