Impact of opportunistic Mycobacterium tuberculosis infection on the phenotype of peripheral blood T cells of AIDS patients

While the detrimental consequences of opportunistic tuberculosis (TB) in the course and outcome of HIV-1 infection are well studied, little information about the impact of the mycobacterial infection on the phenotype of T lymphocytes is available. In this study we analyzed by cytofluorimetry the peripheral blood T cell phenotype of 13 patients with AIDS, 23 HIV-1 negative patients with active pulmonary TB, nine HIV-1/Mycobacterium tuberculosis coinfected individuals, and 21 age- and sex-matched healthy controls. CD4+ T cells were equally depleted in AIDS and coinfection (P<0.001). The findings suggest a rescuing effect of the added mycobacterial infection. CD3 T cell loss was not observed in coinfection, whereas it was severe in AIDS (P<0.001). Similar (albeit less striking) effects were observed with other markers (CD45RA, CD45RO, and CD27) that were diminished in CD4+ T cells of AIDS patients. Apparent detrimental effects of the added mycobacterial infection were the increased expression of the proapoptotic molecule CD95 on CD4+ T cells, and decreased expression of the major costimulatory molecule CD28 on CD8+ T cells. In this work we show that M. tuberculosis infection modifies the T cell phenotype of the HIV-1 infected individual