[Correlation between histocompatibility antigens, tumor necrosis factor-alpha, and HIV infection]

The expression of tumor necrosis alpha-factor (TNF-alpha) may be characterized by autocrine loop operating at the transcriptional level through the NF-kB rel-protein family. The same family of transcriptional factors contributes to the control of expression of HIV LTR. These regulatory patterns linked expression of TNF-alpha with progression of viral infection. The purpose of the study was to reveal an association between various HLA alleles, TNF-alpha production and the progression of the disease. The Workshop anti-HLA sera were used to determine the HLA phenotypes of 124 patients (52 children and 72 adults). Spontaneous PBMC production of TNF-alpha and p24 was measured by ELISA. In terms of the association with high or low TNF-alpha, HLA-A, D, DR antigens were divided into 3 groups: 1) promoting antigens: HLA-A1. B16, 35, 40, 41; DR1, 3 (each graded as -2); 2) protective ones: HLA- A19, 28; B7,12, 13; DR 2, 6 (each graded as +2), and 3) non-participating ones: HLA-A2, 3, 9, 10, 11; B5, 8, 14, 15, 17, 18, 21, 22, 27; DR5, 7 (each graded as 0). The summarized data depicting a phenotype in the chosen scale from -12 to +12 demonstrate that there is a high correlation between the course of AIDS and the onset of its clinical manifestations.