Impact of HIV and multidrug resistant tuberculosis coinfection on CD4+ and CD8+ T cells among patients attending Aminu Kano teaching hospital, Kano, Nigeria

Abstract

Background: human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection triggers massive depletion of cluster of differentiation type 4 (CD4) T cells and is a known cause of developing active pulmonary tuberculosis (TB). Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb)infection also has a negative impact on the immune response to HIV, accelerating the progression from HIV infection to AIDS. Aim of the work: is evaluation of plasma level of CD4⁺ and CD8⁺ T cells in multi drug resistant tuberculosis (MDR/ TB) co infected with HIV. Materials and methods: This is a case-control study. A total of 130 participants were consecutively selected for the study. The target populations were male and female adults aged 18 to 70 years who were attending Institute of Human Virology Nigeria (IHVN) Clinic, Aminu Kano Teaching Hospital (AKTH), Kano, Nigeria. We evaluated the CD4⁺ and CD8⁺ T cells levels in each group by flow cytometry and analyzed the differences. Results:The mean CD4⁺ T cell count in both treatment naïve-patients and treatment-experienced patients, lower than similar values in apparently healthy control. We found a significant (P<0.011) decreased of plasma levels of CD4⁺ T-cells count in MDR-TB/HIV co-infected treatment-naïve patients compared to MDR-TB monoinfected treatment-naïve patients. However, CD8⁺ T-cell counts was not statistically (p < /em>˃0.05) different between MDR-TB/HIV co-infected treatment naïve-patients and MDR-TB monoinfected treatment naïve-patients. Conclusion: Investigation revealed significantly lower CD4⁺ T cells in MDR-TB/HIV co-infected treatment-naïve patients compared with MDR-TB monoinfected treatment naïve patients, suggesting a more advanced immunodeficiency in co-infected patients. In MDR-TB/HIV co-infected treatment-naïve individuals, MDR-TB additionally contribute to reduction in CD4⁺ T cell counts.