Spontaneous apoptosis, oxidative status and immunophenotype markers in blood lymphocytes of AIDS patients

Peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) from 251 HIV-positive drug abusers of known clinical stage and from 40 healthy donors were tested for conventional immuno-logic markers (CD3, CD4, CD8, CD19, CD14, CD16/CD56, CD45 and HLA-DR). Additional cell parameters and the oc-currence of spontaneous apoptosis (programmed cell death) were investigated on freshly isolated PBMC by flow cyto-metric measurement of either annexin-V bound to plasma membrane phosphatidylserine or propidium iodide uptake. The activity of -glutamyltransferase ( -GT), an ectoen-zyme contributing to the synthesis of the intracellular an-tioxidant glutathione (GSH) and involved in early apoptosis, was also determined in these cells. Immunocompetent T-cell counts were lower in HIV+ patients, with the exception of CD8+ and HLA-DR+ lymphocytes. The external binding of annexin-V was significantly higher in HIV+ PBMC and oc-curred in both CD8+ and CD4+ T-lymphocyte subsets. The activity of -GT, was significantly lower in the PBMC from HIV+ patients, indicating that the redox status of PBMC may be affected in HIV+ individuals. Finally, the most dominant features characterising patients receiving antiretroviral ther-apy were greater long-term stability in the distribution of var-ious cell parameters excepted the level of apoptosis