A. Olaitan et al., CHANGES TO THE CYTOKINE MICROENVIRONMENT IN THE GENITAL-TRACT MUCOSA OF HIV+ WOMEN, Clinical and experimental immunology, 112(1), 1998, pp. 100-104
As previous studies have indicated that genital tract mucosal T cell f
unction may be impaired in HIV infection, we investigated the T cell c
ytokine mRNA in the genital tract mucosa of HIV-infected women to dete
rmine if there are alterations in the cytokine profile which may expla
in the T cell impairment. The in situ hybridization technique was used
to investigate the T helper-1 (Th1: IL-2, interferon-gamma (IFN-gamma
)) and Th2 cytokine (IL-4, IL-5, IL-10) mRNA profile in cervical biops
ies from 10 HIV+ and 10 HIV- subjects. Cervical intraepithelial neopla
sia (GIN) and genital infection had previously been excluded and the d
istribution of immunocompetent cells within the cervical mucosa was kn
own for each subject. Non-parametric tests were used to compare the op
tical density (OD) of cytokine mRNA in the HIV+ and HIV- groups. Compa
risons were also made between peripheral CD4 lymphocyte counts, cervic
al CD4/CD8 T lymphocyte ratios and cytokine mRNA OD in HIV+ subjects.
The HIV+ women had significantly higher mRNA OD for the Th2 cytokines
IL-4, IL-5 and IL-10 than HIV- women. There was also significantly low
er IL-2 mRNA OD in the former group. HIV+ women had lower IFN-gamma mR
NA than HIV- women, but the difference was not statistically significa
nt. There was no correlation between cytokine mRNA OD and peripheral C
D4 count or cervical CD4/CD8 ratio. The predominance of Th2 cytokines,
which are immune-inhibitory, in the cervical mucosa of HIV+ women may
underlie the impaired cytotoxic potential observed in the CD8(+) T ly
mphocytes and may contribute to the susceptibility of HIV-infected wom
en to recurrent genital tract infections and cervical neoplasia.