CHANGES TO IL-2, IFN-Γ AND IL-6 BEFORE AND AFTER THE TREATMENT OF HIV-1 INFECTION AND THEIR CORRELATION WITH CD4~+T CELL NUMBER

Peng Yao^1,3, Junyan Cao¹, Zhenhui Lu¹, Fengjun Tong¹, Lizhen Chen², Nanping Wu^{3, *}

¹Department of Infectious Disease, Zhejiang Qingchun Hospital, Hangzhou, PR China - ²Department of Disease Control and Prevention, Zhejiang Qingchun Hospital, Hangzhou, PR China - ³State Key Laboratory for Diagnosis and Treatment of Infectious Diseases, The First Affiliated Hospital, College of Medicine, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, PR China

Objective: To analyze the changes in interleukin-2 (IL-2), interferon γ (IFN-γ), and interleukin-6 (IL-6) before and after the treatment of HIV-1 infection and consider their correlation with CD₄~+T cell numbers. 

Methods: From January 2018 to June 2019, 50 patients with HIV-1 infection were selected as the HIV-1 group, and 50 healthy people who came to our hospital for physical examination at the same time were selected as the control group. All patients in the HIV-1 group received antiviral treatment. This study compared the changes to the CD₄⁺, CD₈⁺, CD₄⁺/CD₈⁺ ratio between the two groups, the changes in the IL-2, IFN-γ, IL-6 levels between the two groups, and the changes in the IL-2, IFN-γ, IL-6 levels before and after treatment in HIV-1 group. In addition, it analyzed the correlation between the levels of IL-2, IFN-γ, IL-6 and CD₄⁺T cell count in the HIV-1 group. 

Results: The ratio of CD₄⁺, CD₄⁺/CD₈⁺ in the HIV-1 group was significantly lower than that of the control group (P<0.01), and the number of CD₈⁺ T cells was significantly lower than that of the control group (P<0.01). The level of IL-2 and IFN-γ in the HIV-1 group was significantly lower than that of the control group (P<0.01), the level of IL-6 was significantly higher than that of the control group (P<0.01), and the level of IL-2 and IFN-γ water in the HIV-1 group after treatment was statistically significant (P<0.01). The level of IL-2 and IFN-γ in the HIV-1 group positively correlated with CD₄⁺ T cells (P<0.01), while the level of IL-6 negatively correlated with CD₄⁺ T cells (P<0.01). 

Conclusion: There is a low expression of IL-2 and IFN-γ in the serum of HIV-1 infected patients, which positively correlates with CD₄⁺ T cells, and may play an important role in anti-HIV treatment by contributing to the immune reconstruction of the body. The level of IL-6 negatively correlates with CD₄⁺ T cells, suggesting that the replication stage of HIV infection may play an important role.