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Updated: Aug 10, 2026

Comprehensive & Cost Effective Laboratory Monitoring of HIV/AIDS: an African Role Model
Published on: November 1, 2010
CD4+ lymphocyte depletion in HIV-infected patients is associated with gp120-immunoglobulin-complement attachment to
V Daniel1, C Süsal, A P Prodeus
1Department of Transplantation Immunology, University of Heidelberg, FRG.
Abstract:
The mechanism of CD4+ lymphocyte depletion, which is the main immunological feature in HIV-infected patients, is unclear. We investigated whether gp120-immunoglobulin-complement complexes on the surface of CD4+ cells might be involved in the elimination of CD4+ lymphocytes. The results obtained in 63 HIV-infected patients show that gp120 is attached to a variable degree to CD4+ cells. Importantly, the percentage of CD4+gp120+ lymphocytes is inversely associated with CD4+ lymphocyte counts in the peripheral blood (p = 0.0004). CD4+gp120+ blood lymphocytes bind IgM (p = 0.0027) and IgG antibodies (p = 0.0001) and complement (p = 0.0005). These results suggest that immune complex-mediated cell elimination is an important mechanism of CD4+ cell depletion in patients with AIDS.

