Host defense mechanisms in secondary syphilitic lesions: a role for IFN-gamma-/IL-17-producing CD8+ T cells?

ABSTRACT: Cell-mediated immunity is thought to be of critical importance in antisyphilitic host defense, but the exact mechanisms are still unknown. This fact is particularly true for HIV-infected persons with a deficit in CD4+ T-cell number. We therefore obtained lesional skin samples from HIV+ and HIV- patients with secondary syphilis at different time points of lesional age to search both for causative microorganisms and to characterize the inflammatory infiltrate. By doing so, we detected Treponema pallidum spirochetes with a much greater abundance in late lesions of HIV+ individuals compared with the HIV- cohort. The dominating inflammatory cells were T cells, macrophages, and neutrophils at all stages and plasma cells in older lesions. In HIV- persons, T cells consisted of equal numbers of CD4

SUBMITTER: Stary G 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2966800 | biostudies-literature | 2010 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature