Immunophenotyping of circulating T cells in a mucosal leishmaniasis patient coinfected with HIV

hiv coinfection modifies the clinical course of leishmaniasis by promoting a th2 pattern of cytokine production. however, little information is available regarding the lymphocytic response in untreated coinfected patients. this work presents the immunophenotyping of leishmania-stimulated t cells from a treatment-na？ve hiv+ patient with ml. leishmania braziliensis antigens induced cd69 expression on cd3+cd4+ and cd3+cd8+ cells. it also increased il-4 intracellular staining on cd3+cd4+gata3- population and decreased the percentage of cd3+cd4+il-17+ cells. this suggests that modulations in the il-4r/stat6 pathway and the th17 population may serve as parasitic evasion mechanisms in hiv/ml. further studies are required to confirm these results.