Analysis of the relationship of Th9 cells and its transcription factor PU.1 in peripheral blood with the disease course of HIV/AIDS patients

WANG Liwei; REN Weihong; FENG Qian; LI Wenbo; FENG Huijie

doi:10.13431/j.cnki.immunol.j.20170106

Abstract：CD4+T cells are the target cells attacked by HIV.In this study,we aimed to explore Th9 cell and the expression of its transcription factor PU.1 in peripheral blood of patients with HIV/AIDS,and to explore their correlation with the progression of AIDS.According to the amount of CD4+T cells,the 40 patients with HIV/AIDS were divided into two groups:group A (CD4+T lymphocyte＜350),group B (CD4 +T lymphocytes＞350),while 20 healthy persons were recruited as healthy control group.The T lymphocyte subsets (Th1,Th2,Th9) and transcription factors(T-bet,GATA3,PU.1) in peripheral blood were detected by Flow cytometry technique and RT-PCR technique.Data showed that the absolute count and percentage of CD4 +T cells in HIV/AIDS patients were significantly decreased,while the CD8 +T cells were significantly increased compared with healthy people.The percentage of Th1 cells in group A (6.71±3.05) and group B (5.82±2.52) were lower than that of the control group (10.89± 6.82) (P＜0.05),but there was no significant difference in Th2 cells among the three groups.There were statistically difference in Th9 cell percentage of among group A (2.0±0.69),group B (0.66±0.23) and control group (0.40±0.16).Also,the expression of transcription factor PU.1 demonstrated significant difference between group A (3.30±0.78) and group B (1.59±0.44).Correlation analysis showed that there was inverse correlation between Th9 and CD4 +T cell (r=-0.637,P=0.000),as well as between PU.1 and CD4+T cells (r=-0.746,P=0.000).Our results indicated that Th9 cells and transcription factor PU.1 in HIV/AIDS patients are gradually increased with the disease progression,which are closely related with the disease progression of AIDS,thus can be used as an indicator to determine the progress of the diseases.