Expression of DC-SIGN in Peripheral Blood Dendritic Cells of Patients with Typical, Slow, and Rapid Progression to AIDS

The main access route for human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) into the lymph nodes is through the mucosa. Once there, dendritic cells (DCs) are the first cells to interact with the virus. Then, DCs can uptake and transport to the lymph nodes, beginning a disseminated infection. Interaction between the virus and DCs is mediated by the receptor DC-SIGN. This study seeks to determine any relationship between HIV-AIDS immunopathology and DC-SIGN expression levels in DCs from typical, rapid, and slow progressors. A DC separation system was implemented using peripheral blood mononuclear cells from infected subjects. The study included 27 patients classified as typical, rapid, and slow progressors according to their clinical and epidemiological files. Finally, quantification of DC-SIGN was achieved by real-time PCR and by applying the Relative Quantification Scheme (ΔΔCt). We isolated DCs from peripheral blood of 27 HIV-infected patients. Nineteen were considered as typical progressors, five as slow progressors, and three as rapid progressors. No significant differences were observed on the expression levels of DC-SIGN among the three groups of patients. Even if there are differences in expression levels among the analyzed patients, we did not find any significant differences in DC-SIGN expression among the three included groups. We therefore cannot conclude that the expression level of the receptor is related with the progression to AIDS.