International Journal of STD & AIDS > Volume 19, Number 8 > Pp. 524-528

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Original research articles

Chronic colitis associated with HIV infection can be related to intraepithelial infiltration of the colon by CD8+ T lymphocytes

Elaine Raniero Fernandes BSc ^*, Carla Pagliari BSc PhD ^*, Felipe Francisco Tuon MD , Heitor Franco de Andrade, Junior MD PhD , Marcelo Averbach MD PhD ^* and Maria Irma Seixas Duarte MD PhD ^* 

^* Laboratório da Disciplina de Patologia de Moléstias Transmissíveis, Departamento de Patologia, Faculdade de Medicina da Universidade de São Paulo, Av. Dr Arnaldo, 455 Cerqueira César 01246-903, São Paulo; Department of Infectious Diseases; Tropical Medicine Institute of São Paulo, University of São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil

Correspondence to: Dr Maria Irma Seixas Duarte Email: miduarte{at}usp.br; elaineraniero{at}usp.br

Gastrointestinal complications in AIDS patients with diarrhoea are common clinical manifestations, frequently diagnosed by colonoscopy as non-specific colitis. We retrospectively study colon biopsies diagnosed as chronic colitis associated with HIV (CCH). Biopsies were sorted as patients with AIDS (serum CD4 <200 cell/mm³) but without any clear infectious process (n = 12) and patients without HIV infection (n = 24). There are low numbers of CD4+ T lymphocytes in lamina propria of AIDS patients, but CD8+ T populations in this area appear to be similar in all studied groups, regardless of HIV infection or laboratory evidence of a specific agent. We found the clear evidence of CD8+ T cells infiltration in colonic mucosa in HIV patients with microscopic colitis. An imbalance of lymphocyte subpopulations in the colon, both in the lamina propria and epithelium, could result in an intraepithelial CD8 infiltration, involved in the pathogenesis of CCH in AIDS patients.

Key Words: non-specific colitis • AIDS • intraepithelial lymphocytes • CD8+ • CD4+

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