Syphilis,Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) And Syphilis/Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) Co-infection: Characterization Of IL-17and IFN-γ Responses

Objective:To investigate the characteristics of IL-17and IFN-γ responses in patients withsyphilis，HIV and syphilis/HIV.Methods:Thirty-seven syphilis patients, sixteen HIV-infected patients, twenty Syphilis/HIV coinfection patients and twenty-six healthy control subjects were enrolled in thestudy in Shenzhen, PR China from July2010to November2011.We used the wholeblood intracellular cytokine staining and used multiparameter flow cytometry to detectthe expression of IL-17+and IFN-γ+T cell by BD FACSCanto.Results:The characteristics of IL-17and IFN-γ responses in patients with syphilis，HIVand syphilis/HIV.⑴T he characteristics of CD4+T cells: The expression of CD4+IL-17+T cell insyphilis patients（2.16±1.51） were significantly higher than that of the HIV patientsgroup（1.14±0.79），（P<0.05）. however, the expression of CD4+IFN-γ+T cell insyphilis patients （48.54±16.88）were higher than that of the HIV/syphilis co-infectedpatients groups（32.17±22.46），（P<0.05）. The expression of CD4+IL-17+IFN-γ+Tcell in syphilis patients （0.78±0.58）were significantly higher than that of the other twogroups（HIV,0.26±0.19, P<0.01; HIV/syphilis,0.28±0.38,P<0.001）.⑵The characteristics of CD8+T cells: The expression of CD8+IL-17+T cell insyphilis patient（s2.89±1.63）were significantly higher than that of the other two groups（HIV,0.11±0.11,P<0.001; HIV/syphilis,0.15±0.16,P<0.001）；meanwhile, theexpression of CD8+IFN-γ+T cell in syphilis patients(31.41±10.20)were lower than that of the other two groups （HIV,51.59±26.02,P<0.05; HIV/syphilis,52.23±27.60,P<0.01）；The expression of CD4+IL-17+IFN-γ+T cell in syphilis patients（0.76±0.60）were significantly higher than that of the other two groups （HIV,0.13±0.22,P<0.001,;HIV/syphilis,0.23±0.33,P<0.001）.