Acute Cytomegalovirus Infection Is Associated with Increased Frequencies of Activated and Apoptosis-Vulnerable T Cells in HIV-1-Infected Infants
Slyker JA., Rowland-Jones SL., Dong T., Reilly M., Richardson B., Emery VC., Atzberger A., Mbori-Ngacha D., Lohman-Payne BL., John-Stewart GC.
ABSTRACTCytomegalovirus (CMV) coinfection is associated with infant HIV-1 disease progression and mortality. In a cohort of Kenyan HIV-infected infants, the frequencies of activated (CD38+HLA-DR+) and apoptosis-vulnerable (CD95+Bcl-2−) CD4+and CD8+T cells increased substantially during acute CMV infection. The frequency of activated CD4+T cells was strongly associated with both concurrent CMV coinfection (P= 0.001) and HIV-1 viral load (P= 0.05). The frequency of apoptosis-vulnerable cells was also associated with CMV coinfection in the CD4 (P= 0.02) and CD8 (P< 0.001) T cell subsets. Similar observations were made in HIV-exposed uninfected infants. CMV-induced increases in T cell activation and apoptosis may contribute to the rapid disease progression in coinfected infants.