A transcriptional study of SDF-1α expression in PBL and the correlation between SDF-1α transcription and HIV-1 infection

Objective To determine the transcription of SDF-1α in peripheral blood lymphocytes (PBL) and analysis the correlation between SDF-1α transcription and HIV infection. Methods Three groups of study subjects were recruited: (1) 97 HIV negative healthy donors, (2) 92 HIV patients of AI to A3 stages and (3) 146 HIV patients of B1 to C3 stages. Total RNA was extracted from PBL. Reverse transcription (RT)-PCR and quantification PCR were developed for the SDF-1α transcriptional study. R1 value was calculated based on the ratio of SDF-1α copies to β-globin copies. Results SDF-1α transcription is heterogeneous among the three study groups. The SDF-1α transcription was significantly up-regulated during late stage of HIV infection than the healthy donors.Correlation analysis indicated that R1 value was negatively correlated to CD4+ T cells counts (P=0.002) ; and positively correlated to virus load (P=0.001). The result demonstrated an association between SDF-1α transcription and disease progression. Conclusion SDF-1α transcription was significantly up-regulated during late stage of HIV infection. It would be worthwhile to determine the mechnism of HIV affecting on SDF-1α genes transcription and the up-regulated SDF-1α expression on the disease progression.