Evaluation of the association of FOXP3 expression and human herpesvirus 8 (HHV-8) viral load in patients co-infected with HIV and HHV-8: difference between female and male

Abstract

Kaposi's sarcoma (KS) occurs predominantly in male. Clinical and experimental evidences show gender differences in immune response. Usually male are more susceptible than female to infectious diseases. Otherwise, women are more likely to develop autoimmune diseases. Regulatory CD4+CD25+ T cells (nTreg) were recently shown to play an essential role in the regulation of immune response, as for maintenance of self-tolerance as for regulation of immune response against non-self antigens. These cells, which specific marker is a transcription factor named FOXP3, have been associated to the pathogenesis of many infectious diseases. Since the viral load of Human herpesvirus 8 (HHV-8) is associated to the risk of evolution to KS and also to the severity of the disease, our hypothesis is that there is a difference in expression of FOXP3 and HHV-8 viral load according to gender. Male patients should have more nTreg in peripheral blood than female and are at higher risk of long-term virus persistence. The aim of the present study is to evaluate if there are differences according to gender in the HHV-8 viral load in peripheral blood and saliva and in the expression of FOXP3 in patients co-infected with HIV and HHV-8 and if there is association between these markers. (AU)