Antiretroviral treatment induces a shift to type-2 cytokine responses in HIV-1 infected pregnant women

We report on a cross-sectional study on proliferation and cytokine producti on (IFN-gamma, IL-12, IL-5 and TNF-alpha) by peripheral blood mononuclear c ells (PBMC), activated or not with phytohemagglutinin (PHA) in HIV-1-infect ed pregnant women, untreated or treated with zidovudine. We compared the re sults with healthy women, either pregnant or not, and with HIV-l-infected, non-pregnant women, The most significant results indicate that basal IL-5 p roduction in HIV-l-infected pregnant women was higher than in the rest of t he groups, being even higher in the zidovudine-treated than in the untreate d group. IL-5 and TNF-alpha production by PHA-activated PBMC was also highe r in HIV-1 pregnant women than in controls and infected non-pregnant women. IFN-gamma production was much higher in healthy women than in the other gr oups. Finally, the IFN-gamma /IL-5 (Th1-type/Th2-type-cytokine) ratio was l ower in HIV-infected than in uninfected groups. Zidovudine treatment reduce d basal IL-12 and increased PHA-stimulated IL-5 production. Our results ind icate that both HIV-1 infection and pregnancy favored a Th2-type response b y T cells. Interestingly, zidovudine-treated pregnant women had a significa ntly higher Th2-type response than untreated ones.