Mantero-Atienza E, Indacochea F, Cabrejos C, Sotomayor MC, Fletcher MA, Sauberlich HE, Shor-Posner G, Baum MK; International Conference on AIDS.

Int Conf AIDS. 1992 Jul 19-24; 8: 105 (abstract no. PuB 7336).

Biopsychosocial Center for AIDS, University of Miami School of Medicine, FL 33136.

OBJECTIVE: Altered selenium status has been shown to be associated with immunodeficiency and has also been found prevalent in HIV infected adult populations. This study was conducted to characterize selenium status in HIV-1 infected children in relation to their immune profile. METHOD: Plasma selenium concentration (standard fluorimetric method) was measured in 22 symptomatic (class P.2) HIV-1 infected children. Immunological function was assessed by T-cell subsets, NK cell cytotoxicity response to phytohemagglutinin (PHA) and pokeweed (PWM) mitogens. RESULTS: Mean age of the cohort was 55 +/- 26 months (range 15-108). Mean plasma selenium were 88.35 +/- 23.7 micrograms/L (mean +/- SD). Inadequate plasma levels (less than 85 micrograms/ml) were observed in 37% (N = 7), marginal plasma levels (85 less than or equal to 95 micrograms/ml) in 27% (N = 6) and adequate plasma levels (greater than 95 micrograms/ml) in 41% (N = 9) of the children. There was a significant difference in peripheral lymphocyte response to PWM (2.6 +/- 1.8 vs 5.8 +/- 7.7) (p less than 0.04) and PHA (18 +/- 20 vs 102 +/- 120) (p less than 0.05) between the group who had inadequate plasma levels compared to the group with adequate plasma selenium levels. CD4, CD8, CD4/CD8 ratio and NK cell cytotoxicity were not statistically different between groups although a trend was observed. CONCLUSION: These preliminary results reveal a high prevalence of low selenium levels in HIV-1 infected children, similar to there found in adult populations. Furthermore, the low selenium levels were associated with poor T-cell function as expressed by blastogenesis response to lectins. This data suggest a potential role of selenium in the pathogenesis of the acquired immunodeficiency syndrome.

Publication Types:

• Meeting Abstracts

Keywords:

• Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome
• Adult
• Child
• HIV Infections
• HIV Seropositivity
• HIV-1
• Humans
• Lymphocyte Activation
• Malnutrition
• Phytohemagglutinins
• Pokeweed Mitogens
• Selenium
• T-Lymphocyte Subsets
• T-Lymphocytes
• immunology
• metabolism

Other ID:

• 92403387

UI: 102201101

From Meeting Abstracts