Increased Level of Arginase Activity Correlates with Disease Severity in HIV‐Seropositive Patients
Open Access
- 1 August 2010
- journal article
- research article
- Published by Oxford University Press (OUP) in The Journal of Infectious Diseases
- Vol. 202 (3), 374-385
- https://doi.org/10.1086/653736
Abstract
Infection with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) results in a chronic infection that progressively impairs the immune system. Although depletion of CD4+ T cells is frequently used to explain immunosuppression, chronicity of infection and progressive loss of CD4+ T cells are not sufficient to fully account for immune dysregulation. Arginase-induced l-arginine deprivation is emerging as a key mechanism for the down-regulation of immune responses. Here, we hypothesized that the level of arginase activity increases with disease severity in HIV-seropositive patients. We determined the levels of arginase activity in peripheral blood mononuclear cells from HIV-seropositive patients and uninfected control participants. Our results show that peripheral blood mononuclear cells from HIV-seropositive patients with low CD4+ T cell counts expressed statistically significantly higher levels of arginase activity, compared with patients with high CD4+ T cell counts or uninfected control participants. Furthermore, we found a statistically significant correlation between high level of arginase activity and high viral load in HIV-seropositive patients.Keywords
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