Objective To examine the expression of TLR7/8 in monocytes purified from HIV-1 infected individuals and to study its association with disease progression. Methods Sixty-three HIV-1 infected individuals and 18 normal controls were enrolled. Monocytes were purified by MACS system and RNA of them was extracted by RNA mini kit of QIAGEN company. TLR7/8 expression was tested by real-time RT-PCR with ABI7500. Results It was found that the expression of TLR7 was strongly correlated with absolute CD4 count (r =0.614, P＜0.01) , so was TLR8 (r =0.419, P＜0.01). The expression of TLR7 in slow progressor (SP) group was higher than that in HIV-1 infected patients group, AIDS patients group and normal group (P ＜ 0. 05 ) . HIV group and normal group were strongly higher than AIDS group (P ＜ 0. 05). It was no significant differentiation of expression of TLR7 between HIV infection group and normal control group. The expression of TLR8 in SP group and normal group were significantly higher than that in AIDS group (P ＜ 0. 05). The expression of TLR8 was no singnificantly difference between SP group and HIV group or normal control group, so was it between HIV group or normal control group and AIDS group. Conclusion The expression of TLR7/8 in monocytes from HIV-1 infected patients significantly correlated with disease progression.

Objective:To study the relationships between neutralizing antibody response against autologous virus and disease progression of HIV-1 B'/C infected individuals in China.Methods:Twenty-four primary HIV-1 isolates were incubated with autologous plasma collected either freshly or at approximately six months intervals thereafter.Normal human peripheral blood mononuclear cells were incubated with the virus-serum mixtures for 7 days and then the production of p24 antigen was measured.The neutralizing titer of a particular plasma and virus was defined as the reciprocal of the highest dilution giving a 50% reduction in p24 Ag compared with NHP control wells.More than 1∶8 were considered significant and were scored as positive.Results:In neutralizing antibody(Nabs) response against contemporaneous virus,Nabs were produced in all slow progressors(SP) individuals,while only four in 21 of HIV group had.There was statistically significance of the neutralizing antibody titers between SP and HIV.When plasma samples of six months later were tested for their ability to neutralize autologous virus,all of SPs had higher neutralizing antibody titers and the titers of neutralizing antibody in HIV group had increased in different rate.Among the twenty-one individuals of HIV group,12 of these individuals had neutralizing antibody response against autologous virus and other 9 of these individuals had not.NAb titers of SP in six months later plasma were higher than those of HIV.There was a negative correlation between the generation of the neutralizing titer against autologous virus and the plasma HIV RNA level in HIV-1 B'/C infected individuals(including SP,HIV).Conclusion:Neutralizing antibody against autologous viruses in HIV-1 B'/C infected SP is higher than those of HIV group,suggesting that neutralizing antibodies play a vital role in delaying disease progression in these individuals.

Objective To study the relationships between neutralizing antibody response against heterologous virus and disease progression in Chinese HIV-1 B'/C infected individuals. Methods Plasmas from HIV-1-infected individuals, grouped as HIV chronically infected or AIDS according to CD4+ count and clinical symptom, were tested for neutralizing activity against the three HIV-1 isolates with very low homology in vitro. Six two-fold dilutions of each plasma sample (from 1/10 to 1/320) were tested against each virus from the panel. Giving a 50% reduction in p24Ag compared with normal human plasma control wells was defined as positive. The breadth of the cross-neutralizing response was defined based on the number of viruses that were effectively neutralized by any given patient-derived plasma sample. The magnitude of the crossneutralizing response was defined based on the average neutralizing titer against all heterologous viruses. Resuits We found that there revealed a significant difference between HIV chronically infected and AIDS group in the breaths and magnitudes of neutralizing heterologous virus. There was higher prevalence for the frequency of neutralizing heterologous virus in HIV chronically infected than AIDS. The results showed that there was positive correlation between the breadths and magnitudes of neutralizing response against heterologous virus and the plasma HIV RNA level in HIV chronically infected group, while not in AIDS group. There was no association between the breadth of the neutralizing responses against heterologous virus and CD4 T cell counts. Conclusion The capacity of neutralizing antibodies against heterologous virus varied among different disease stage. There were higher titers of neutralizing antibodies in HIV chronically infected than AIDS group. The loss of neutralizing antibodies in plasma from AIDS group appears to be associated with a narrowing of the antibody response during disease progression. These suggest that the presence of neutralizing antibodies against hetreologous virus was associated with disease progression.

Objective To study the B lymphocytes counts and the expression of TLR9 mRNA on B lymphocytes in peripheral blood from Chinese HIV-infected patients.Methods The cells from peripheral blood were stained with antibodies labeled with fluorescence and B lymphocytes were counted with flow cytometry.Using the method of magnetic activated cell sorting and real-time PCR,the expression of TLR9 mRNA was measured.Results The B lymphocytes counts in HIV/AIDS patients was significantly lower than that of healthy controls(P ＜0.01).The B lymphocytes counts in HIV/AIDS patients positively correlated with the CD4 +T cells counts(r =0.534,P = 0.006).The expression of TLR9 mRNA on B lymphocytes in HIV/AIDS patients was significantly lower than that of healthy controls(P =0.023),and positively correlated with the CD4 + T cells counts(r = 0.390,P = 0.040).Conclusion The B lymphocytes counts and the expression of TLR9 mRNA on B lymphocytes in Chinese HIV/AIDS patients were decreased due to HIV infection,which may correlate with disease progression.

Objective To explore the optimization for parameters of 5.0T pseudo continuous arterial spin labeling(pCASL)MRI of whole brain.Methods Nine healthy adults were prospectively enrolled,and single-delay pCASL scanning was performed based on a 5.0T MR scanner with 3 sets of labeling gradients:Group A,average gradient(Gavg)=1 mT/m and the ratio of maximum gradient(Gmax)to Gavg(Gratio)=10,group B,Gavg=0.6 mT/m and Gratio=10,group C,Gavg=0.3 mT/m and Gratio=9.The labeling efficiency and cerebral blood flow(CBF)of 3 groups were compared to screen the best labeling gradient group.Results When the marked average blood flow velocity was 40 cm/s,the gradient field tolerance of group C was better than that of group A and B at the situation of reduced B1+and larger B0 offset frequency range.Under the gradient field of group C,the level of labeled artery B1 ranged from 54.19％to 75.36％,with an average of 64.71％.The labeling efficiencies of group C were all ≥85％,and all ≥90％at the average B1 level(64.71％).In the whole gray matter and almost all brain regions,CBF on pCASL under gradient field of group C was significantly higher than that of group A and B(all P＜0.05).Conclusion Low Gavg and low Gmax were the optimal parameters for 5.0T whole brain pCASL MRI.