DIMINISHED EXPRESSION OF CELL-SURFACE COMPLEMENT REGULATORY PROTEINS IN HIV-INFECTED CHILDREN AND WITH HIV-INFECTION OF PERIPHERAL-BLOOD MONONUCLEAR-CELLS IN-VITRO

Experimental data have established that HIV-infected lymphocytes activ ate the complement system. However, because mammalian lymphocytes poss ess a series of cell-surface complement regulators that inhibit amplif ication on autologous cells, complement-mediated destruction of host c ells is usually inhibited. These studies were performed to examine whe ther alterations in the cell-surface complement regulatory proteins de cay-accelerating factor (DAF, CD55) and membrane cofactor protein (MCP , CD46) may occur during HIV infection in vitro or in vivo, The physio logic significance of these alterations were, assessed by radiolabeled chromium release experiments. We show that MCP fluorescent intensity is significantly lessened in HIV-infected children and that D,AF inten sity is similarly lessened in infected children with advanced disease. These findings could be duplicated with HIV infection of peripheral b lood mononuclear cells in vitro.