• D Delbeck, M Siepermann, O Feyen, S Wirth, U Baumann, U Wintergerst, M Oette, R Adam, M Jetzek-Zader, and T Niehues.
• Centre for Pediatric and Adolescent Medicine, HELIOS Klinikum Krefeld, Lutherplatz 40, Krefeld, Germany. daniel.delbeck@helios-kliniken.de
• Klin Padiatr. 2011 Jul 1; 223 (4): 214-20.

BackgroundCD8 cells are key to antiviral immunity and can be divided by phenotype into early (CD28+ CD27+), intermediate (CD28-CD27+) and terminally differentiated subsets (CD28- CD27-). Despite effective HAART there is an unexplained expansion of CD8+CD28-CD27-T cells in HIV-infected children. The cytokine production and specificity of this terminally differentiated CD8 T cell subset in chronic virus infection is unclear. PATIENTS, METHODS & RESULTS: In a cohort of 26 HIV-infected children the cytokine production of terminally differentiated CD8 cells was analyzed by intracellular staining and FACS analysis and was compared to children with chronic hepatitis B infection and to healthy children. The specificity of CD8 subsets was analyzed by staining with Gag/Pol tetramers in a cohort of 13 patients. We show that an increased production of interferon-γ in terminally and early/intermediate differentiated CD8 cell subsets after stimulation is specific for HIV-infection. The expanded population of terminally differentiated CD8+CD28-CD27- T cells does include HIV Gag/Pol specific T cells in adults but not in children.ConclusionThe expansion of terminally differentiated CD8 cells might be important for immunomodulation but in children it does not appear to play a role in HIV Gag and Pol specific immunity.© Georg Thieme Verlag KG Stuttgart · New York.

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