T cell surface antigen expression on lymphocytes of patients with AIDS during in vitro mitogen stimulation

Surface marker expression on peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) was evaluated daily in PHA- and PWM-stimulated cultures of eight AIDS patients and eight normals. Before culture, the patients' cells showed the characteristic decrease in OKT 4+ cells (normals 40.4%, patients 22.3%; P less than 0.001), increase in OKT 8+ cells (normals 27.6%, AIDS 38.4%; P = 0.002), increase in OKT 10+ cells (normals 15.5%, AIDS 42.8%; P = 0.002), and increase in HLA-DR+ cells (normals 11.4%, AIDS 28.7%; P = 0.01). The percentage of OKT 11+ cells remained unchanged, while the percentage of OKT 3+ cells dropped over the first 2 days in PHA but not in PWM cultures of both groups (PHA: normals 69.8% to 35.1%; P = 0.001, AIDS 56.5 to 38.5%; P = 0.001, PWM: normals 62.8%-65.9%, AIDS 66.8% to 63.9%), and recovered in both groups by day 5. In PWM cultures OKT 3+ cells increased significantly in normals but not in AIDS (normals 62.6%-77.7%; P = 0.04, AIDS 61.8 to 48.7%). OKT 4 expression decreased in normal PHA cultures after 1 day (38.9% to 29.6%; P = 0.05) and then recovered by day 5. Its expression increased in AIDS PHA cultures by day 5 (18.0%-41.1%; P less than 0.001). The final percentage of OKT 4+ cells in AIDS cultures was within the normal range (35.0%-49.0%). OKT 8 expression increased in both study groups after PHA stimulation (normals 29.5%-50.4%; P = 0.002, AIDS 37.4%-50.7%; P = 0.02) and in normals but not AIDS after PWM stimulation (normals 28.9%-35.5%; P = 0.004, AIDS 38.5%-35.6%). Because of the relative changes in expression of OKT 4 and OKT 8, the 4/8 ratio declined in the normal PHA cultures (1.89 to 1.03; P = 0.1) and increased in the AIDS cultures (0.68-1.18; P = 0.09). Also, the sum of OKT 4+ and OKT 8+ cells in PHA cultures increased from 68% to 94% whilst expression of OKT 11 remained unchanged, indicating co-expression of these antigens on individual cells. Both PHA-and PWM-stimulated normal cells showed an increase in OKT 10 (PHA 16.0%-53.4%; P = 0.01, PWM 16.1%-33.9%; P = 0.03) and HLA-DR (PHA 8.6%-27.3%; P = 0.03, PWM 12.5%-26.6%; P = 0.07). In AIDS PHA cultures this did not change, and in their PWM cultures OKT 10 expression declined (44.8 to 23.0%; P = 0.05).