CD38 EXPRESSION ON CRYOPRESERVED CD8-CELLS PREDICTS HIV DISEASE PROGRESSION( T)

Precious studies hare revealed that the expression of CD38 on CD8(+) T cells is a strong predictor of disease progression in human immunodef iciency virus (HIV)-infected individuals, Those studies were performed using fresh patient samples over an extended trial period. After demo nstrating the validity of assay results on cryopreserved cells, we per formed a retrospective study using frozen cell samples to determine th e predictive value of CD38 expression in patients with CD4 counts abov e 400 cells/mu L. The CD38 expression as measured by antibody binding capacity and the CD38 median channel were shown to be associated with time to new opportunistic infection or death (both P < 0.001), These r esults suggest that CD38 expression on CD8(+) T cells, whether fresh o r frozen, provides a useful predictor of HIV disease progression (C) 1 998 Wiley-Liss,Inc.