Discordant Immune Response Among Treatment Experienced Patients Infected With Hiv-1: Crosstalk Between Mirnas Expression and Cd4+ T Cells Count Publisher Pubmed



Poorghobadi S¹ ; Agharezaei M¹ ; Ghanbari M² ; Bahramali G¹ ; Abbasian L³ ; Sajadipour M⁴ ; Baesi K¹
Source: International Immunopharmacology Published:2023

Abstract

Background: One of the problems with treating HIV-infected patients with ARVs is that the treatment can reduce viral load and does not increase the number of CD4 cells (immunological discordance). There are still challenges to treating HIV-positive patients. Aim: This study aimed to investigate the expression level of 18 miRNAs involved in the proliferation and differentiation of CD4+ T cells in a target (discordant immune response) and a control (immune response) group. Methods: In this case-control study, 18 miRNAs were selected and synthesized according to the in-silico analysis and published literatures. RNA extraction was performed from PBMC cells of 30 HIV-1 positive patients in the sample bank. The expression level of microRNAs was calculated by the relative q PCR method (2−ΔΔCt method), and data were analyzed using GraphPad Prism software version 8.0.2. Results: The results of fold change calculation and statistical analysis showed that the expression levels of miR-30b (p value: 0.01, fold change: 0.23), miR-155 (p value: 0.04, fold change: 0.44), miR-181a (p value: 0.01, fold change: 0.37), and miR-190b (p value: 0.01, fold change: 0.39) had a significant decrease in the target group compared to the control group. Conclusion: In summary, various studies have shown that miRNAs, including miR-30b, miR-155, miR-181a, and miR-190b, are involved in the proliferation, differentiation, and development of CD4+ T cells. One reason for the lack of increase in CD4+ T cells may be the reduced expression of these miRNAs. © 2022 Elsevier B.V.