Correlation between CD4+T lymphocyte count in peripheral superficial lymph nodes and collagen deposition in HIV-infected individuals

HUANG Lei; XU Wen; LU Xiang-chan; DENG Jian-ning; CHEN Wei-wei; NIE Wei-min; QIN En-qiang; ZHAO Min; ZHOU Xian-zhi

Abstract：Objective To investigate the effects of collagen deposition on CD4+T lymphocyte count in peripheral superficial lymph nodes of HIV-infected individuals by detecting CD4+T lymphocyte count, collagen and interleukin (IL)-7 and analyze the corre-lation between CD4+T lymphocyte count and collagen deposition. Methods Forty-three HIV-infected individuals were divided into asymptomatic HIV carriers (asymptomatic group) and AIDS patients (AIDS group). Twelve subjects without HIV infection were recruited as a control group. Peripheral superficial lymph nodes of all the groups were obtained. Immunohistochemistry was used to detect ex-pression and distribution of CD4+T lymphocytes, typeⅠcollagen and IL-7 in peripheral superficial lymph nodes. Results With dis-ease progression, collagen deposition in peripheral superficial lymph nodes of HIV-infected individuals increased gradually. Collagen deposition in AIDS group was higher than that in asymptomatic group, which was higher than that in the control group, and differences between the three groups were significant (P<0.05). CD4+T lymphocyte counts in peripheral superficial lymph nodes were not significantly different between the asymptomatic group and the control group (P>0.05), while that of AIDS patients decreased significantly (P<0.01). CD4+T lymphocyte count in peripheral superficial lymph nodes of HIV-infected individuals had a strong negative linear correlation with collagen deposition (R2=0.724, P=0.000), and a strong positive linear correlation with CD4+T lymphocyte count in peripheral blood (R2=0.702, P=0.000). Expressions of IL-7 in peripheral superficial lymph nodes were not significantly different among the three groups (P>0.05), but presented with local aggregation in some AIDS patients. Conclusions Gradually increasing collagen deposition de-stroys the structure of peripheral superficial lymph nodes after HIV infection, which may be one of the important reasons for CD4+T lymphocyte depletion in lymph nodes. Although the expression of IL-7 has a rising tendency in lymph nodes of HIV-infected indi-viduals with disease progression, destruction of lymph nodes structure remains a uncompensatory effect on CD4+T lymphocytes.