Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-1 infection has an important impact on malaria.
Plasmodium falciparum
and HIV-1 co-infected patients (
Pf/HIV) present with a high degree of anaemia, enhanced parasitaemia and decreased CD4
+ T cell counts, which increase the risk of developing severe malaria. In addition, infection with either
Pf or HIV-1 alone causes extensive immune activation. Our hypothesis was that lymphocyte activation is potentiated in
Pf/HIV co-infected patients, consequently worsening their immunosuppressed state. To test this hypothesis, 22
Pf/HIV patients, 34 malaria patients, 29 HIV/AIDS patients and 10 healthy controls without malaria or HIV/acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS) from Maputo/Mozambique were recruited for this study. As expected, anaemia was most prevalent in the
Pf/HIV group. A significant variation in parasite density was observed in the
Pf/HIV co-infected group (110-75,000 parasites/μL), although the median values were similar to those of the malaria only patients. The CD4
+ T cell counts were significantly lower in the
Pf/HIV group than in the HIV/AIDS only or malaria only patients. Lymphocyte activation was evaluated by the percentage of activation-associated molecules [CD38 expression on CD8
+ and human leukocyte antigen-DR expression on CD3
+ T cells]. The highest CD38 expression was detected in the
Pf/HIV co-infected patients (median = 78.2%). The malaria only (median = 50%) and HIV/AIDS only (median = 52%) patients also exhibited elevated levels of these molecules, although the values were lower than those of the
Pf/HIV co-infected cases. Our findings suggest that enhanced T-cell activation in co-infected patients can worsen the immune response to both diseases.
