Filarial Infections Increase Susceptibility to Human Immunodeficiency Virus Infection in Peripheral Blood Mononuclear Cells in Vitro

Because helminth infections and human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) coexist in areas where the spread of AIDS is most dramatic, their in vitro interaction was explored. Cryopreserved peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) from patients with filarial infections (n=24) and from unexposed control subjects (n=12) were depleted of CD8 T cells and were infected with macrophage (M)- and T cell-tropic viruses. A trend toward increased HIV replication in PBMC from filaria-infected patients was observed. Furthermore, PBMC from 6 filaria-infected patients before antifilarial treatment were significantly more susceptible to replication of M-tropic virus than their posttreatment PBMC (P=.03). No intergroup differences were found in the surface expression of HLA-DR, CD25, CCR5, CXCR4, CCR3 on CD4 T cells, or monocytes before infection. PBMC from filaria-infected patients produced less RANTES (P=.02) but more intracellular interleukin-4 than those of control subjects. Thus, PBMC from persons with filarial infections appear to have enhanced susceptibility to HIV-1 infection mediated by an undetermined mechanism.