Aims and Scope

The Open AIDS Journal is an Open Access journal, which publishes peer reviewed research articles, reviews/mini-reviews and letters in the diverse field of HIV/AIDS. The journal covers recent studies on experimental, clinical, translational, social, epidemiological and behavioral aspects, along with therapeutics, pathogenesis, vaccines, drug resistance, prevention of HIV/AIDS, and search for diagnostics, cure and virology of HIV/AIDS. Original articles on animal models for AIDS treatment research are also included.


The Open AIDS Journal is an important and reliable source of current information on important developments in the field. Emphasis is placed on publishing quality papers, making them freely available to researchers worldwide.


Recent Articles

Editor's Choice

Association between Higher CD32a+CD4+ T Cell Count and Viral Load in the Peripheral Blood of HIV-infected Patients

Natalia A. Arsentieva, Oleg K. Batsunov, Alexander V. Semenov, Igor V. Kudryavtsev, Elena V. Esaulenko, Ekaterina V. Boeva, Alexey Y. Kovelenov, Areg A. Totolian

Background:

The significance of CD32a receptor expression in individuals infected with Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) is currently unclear. Previously, B. Descours et al. (2017) concluded that in patients infected with HIV-1, CD32a is expressed on resting T cells that contain HIV DNA. According to the authors, these cells are reservoirs for inducible, replication-competent viruses. However, other studies have reported that CD32a expression is associated with activated T cells and is not a marker of HIV-1 reservoirs. The aims of this study were: to determine the significance of the CD32a marker in HIV infection, to assess its expression on T helper (Th) subpopulations in peripheral blood of HIV-infected individuals and to clarify the relationship between this expression and viral load.

Methods:

For comparative analysis, the following groups were used: 27 HIV-infected patients; 11 individuals with Hepatitis C Virus (HCV) infection; 16 individuals with Hepatitis B Virus (HBV) infection; and 13 healthy donors. Peripheral blood served as the study material. The expression of CD32a receptor on Th cell subpopulations was assessed using flow cytometry. Nonparametric statistical methods were used for data analysis.

Results:

It was found that relative CD32a+ Th cell counts in HIV-infected individuals significantly exceeded corresponding values in other groups: healthy individuals (p<0.0001), those with HCV infection (p=0.0008) and those with HBV infection (p <0.0001). Among the Th subpopulations in HIV-infected patients, the CD32a receptor was predominantly expressed on Th1 cells (p<0.0001) and Th2 cells (p<0.0001), compared with Th17. We found a strong, direct correlation (r=0.78; p<0.0001) between viral load and CD32a+CD4+ T cell count in peripheral blood of HIV-infected individuals.

Conclusion:

Thus, our results provide evidence that the CD32a receptor can serve as a marker of HIV infection, and its expression depends on viral load. Clinical material was used here, for the first time, to show that CD32a is predominantly expressed on Th1 and Th2 cells.


July 13, 2021
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