This Article Full Text (PDF) Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in PubMed Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Reprints and Permissions Copyright Information Books from ASM Press MicrobeWorld Citing Articles Citing Articles via HighWire Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Rich, K. C. Articles by Landay, A. L. Search for Related Content PubMed PubMed Citation Articles by Rich, K. C. Articles by Landay, A. L.

 Previous Article  |  Next Article 

Clinical and Diagnostic Laboratory Immunology, May 1997, 358-361, Vol 4, No. 3
Copyright © 1997 by the American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.

Function and phenotype of immature CD4+ lymphocytes in healthy infants and early lymphocyte activation in uninfected infants of human immunodeficiency virus-infected mothers

KC Rich, JN Siegel, C Jennings, RJ Rydman and AL Landay
Department of Pediatrics, University of Illinois at Chicago, USA.

The function and phenotypes of CD4+ lymphocytes in infants are different than in adults and are modulated by maturational changes and exposure to environmental antigens. Infants of non-human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-infected mothers and uninfected infants of HIV-infected mothers, 0 to 6 months of age, were examined for CD4+ lymphocyte function by in vitro interleukin-2 (IL-2) production and for CD4+ phenotypes by three-color flow cytometry. A minority of these uninfected infants (28%) had functional responses similar to those of healthy adult women (IL-2 production in response to anti-CD3, alloantigen, and mitogen), while the remainder were capable of responding to alloantigen and mitogen but not to anti-CD3. We did demonstrate reduced phytohemagglutinin-stimulated IL-2 production in uninfected infants born to HIV-seropositive mothers compared to that in infants from seronegative mothers. The proportions of CD3+ CD4+, CD4+ HLA-DR- CD38+, and CD4+ CD45RA+ RO- (naive) lymphocytes were much higher in infants than in adults, and the proportions of CD4+ CD45RA- RO+ (memory) and CD4+ CD25+ (IL-2 receptor-bearing) lymphocytes were lower in infants than in adults. The proportions of activated (CD4+ HLA- DR+ CD38+) and memory (CD4+ CD45RA- RO+) lymphocytes were increased in uninfected infants of HIV-infected mothers compared to infants of uninfected mothers. Therefore, T-helper-cell function is immature in many infants, but the CD4+ lymphocytes of some HIV-exposed, uninfected infants have been stimulated by antigen at an early age.

This article has been cited by other articles:

• Lambert, J. S., Moye, J. Jr., Plaeger, S. F., Stiehm, E. R., Bethel, J., Mofenson, L. M., Mathieson, B., Kagan, J., Rosenblatt, H., Paxton, H., Suter, H., Landay, A. (2005). Association of Selected Phenotypic Markers of Lymphocyte Activation and Differentiation with Perinatal Human Immunodeficiency Virus Transmission and Infant Infection. CVI 12: 622-631 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
• Nielsen, S. D., Jeppesen, D. L., Kolte, L., Clark, D. R., Sorensen, T. U., Dreves, A.-M., Ersboll, A. K., Ryder, L. P., Valerius, N. H., Nielsen, J. O. (2001). Impaired progenitor cell function in HIV-negative infants of HIV-positive mothers results in decreased thymic output and low CD4 counts. Blood 98: 398-404 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
• Palumbo, P. E., Raskino, C., Fiscus, S., Pahwa, S., Fowler, M. G., Spector, S. A., Englund, J. A., Baker, C. J. (1998). Predictive Value of Quantitative Plasma HIV RNA and CD4+ Lymphocyte Count in HIV-Infected Infants and Children. JAMA 279: 756-761 [Abstract] [Full Text]