Rantes distribution and cellular localization in the brain of HIV-infectedpatients

Objective: To study the immunochemical distribution of Rantes chemokine and its correlation with HIV-p24 expression, in brains with HIV-related lesion s. Material and methods: 17 HIV-positive cases of HIV-related brain lesions , 7 HIV-positive cases without cerebral HIV-related lesions (5 with opportu nistic brain diseases), and 7 HIV-negative cases as controls (4 with brain lesion) were selected. Results: High expression of Rantes was observed in t he cases with inflammatory brain lesions (22/24 HIV-positive and 2/7 HIV-ne gative patients). Positivity was observed in the diffuse and nodular microg lial cells and lymphocytes. In the patients with HIV-related lesions, the p resence of Rantes-stained microglia did not correlate with that of HIV-p24- positive cells. Positive astrocytes were only found in the HIV-positive pat ients. Multinucleated giant cells were always Rantes-negative. Conclusions: Our results seem to demonstrate the role of Rantes chemokine in inducing i nflammatory brain perivascular and microglial reactions both in HIV-positiv e and -negative patients.