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Clinical and Diagnostic Laboratory Immunology, March 1999, p. 193-198, Vol. 6, No. 2
Clinical Immunology Laboratory and Department
of Microbiology/Immunology, Finch University of Health Sciences/The
Chicago Medical School, North Chicago, Illinois
60064,1 and Department of Medicine, Mount
Sinai Hospital, Chicago, Illinois 606082
Received 27 March 1998/Returned for modification 13 May
1998/Accepted 9 December 1998
Regeneration and tolerance factor (RTF) plays a pivotal role in
successful pregnancy outcome and has potent immunomodulating properties. During pregnancy, it is abundantly expressed in the placenta and on peripheral B lymphocytes. Several lines of evidence suggest that both successful pregnancy outcome and progression from
human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection to AIDS are associated
with a Th2-type response. As a result, we hypothesized that the
cellular expression of RTF may also be increased during infection with
HIV. Using flow cytometric analysis, we showed a significantly
(P < 0.01) increased expression of RTF on
CD3+ cells obtained from individuals with HIV over that for
individuals without HIV. On average, 32.1% of the CD3+
cells from individuals with HIV expressed high levels of RTF. In
contrast, an average of only 6.7% of the CD3+ cells from
individuals without HIV expressed high levels of RTF. Similar results
were obtained when CD19+ cells from individuals with (mean,
44.1%) and without (mean, 25.8%) HIV were evaluated. Linear
regression analysis suggested that high levels of RTF expression by
CD3+ cells correlated better with viral load (r
value, 0.46) than with absolute CD4 count (r value, 0.09).
While additional experiments are necessary to delineate the precise
immunologic role of RTF, our current data suggest that RTF expression
during HIV infection may be a useful marker of immune activation.
1071-412X/99/$04.00+0
Copyright © 1999, American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.
Increased Expression of Regeneration and Tolerance
Factor in Individuals with Human Immunodeficiency Virus
Infection
*
Corresponding author. Mailing address: FUHS/The Chicago
Medical School, Clinical Immunology Laboratory, 3333 Green Bay Rd., North Chicago, IL 60064. Phone: (847) 578-3444. Fax: (847) 578-3349. E-mail: kbeaman{at}aol.com.
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