The DC-SIGNR 7/5 Genotype is Associated with High Dendritic Cell Counts and Their Subsets in Patients Infected with HIV-1

Purpose

The aim of this study was to assess peripheral blood dendritic cell (DC) frequencies and Dendritic Cell-specific intracellular adhesion molecule 3 grabbing non-integrin related (DC-SIGNR) genotyping in healthy individuals, injecting drug users and HIV-1 infected individuals and correlate with different clinical parameters from north India.

Methods

Blood from 30 seronegative healthy individuals, 30 injecting drug users, and 30 patients infected with HIV-1 from North India were collected. Peripheral blood DC frequencies were determined by flow cytometry and repeat region polymorphism in DC-SIGNR was performed by PCR.

Results

There was a significantly lower number of DCs and their subsets in patients infected with HIV-1 compared to injecting drug users and healthy individuals. A significant positive correlation of DCs and their subsets with CD4⁺ T cells and negative correlation with HIV-1 viral load was found. A salient finding of this study was the association of the heterozygous 7/5 DC-SIGNR genotypes with higher percentage of DCs and their subsets and higher CD4⁺ T cell counts and lower viral load compared to the homozygous 7/7 DC-SIGNR genotypes in patients infected with HIV-1.

Conclusions

This is the first study to assess the DC subsets and its association with DC-SIGNR polymorphism in injecting drug users and HIV-1 infected patients and suggests the protective role of 7/5 DC-SIGNR genotypes in HIV-1 infection.