Natural Killer Cells Phenotype in Antiretroviral Naïve HIV-1 Infected People Living in Cameroon

The impact of antiretroviral naive HIV-1 infection on the modulation of Natural Killer (NK) cells phenotype has not been fully assessed. This study aimed to define the phenotype of NK cell in the context of antiretroviral naive HIV-1 infection. A total of 85 ARV naive HIV-1 infected and 55 healthy individuals were included in the study. Purified NK cells alongside bulk Peripheral Blood Mononuclear Cells (PBMC) were surface stained with fluorochrome conjugated antibodies and samples were acquired using a BD FACS canto II flow cytometer. A down-regulation of CD56 + /CD16 - and CD56 + /CD16 + NK cells (p= 0.003), and a significant expansion (p= 0.03) of CD56 - /CD16 + NK cells subset was observed in ARV naive HIV-1 infection. The high expression of both CD38 (p= 0.02) and HLA-DR (p=0.001) in the CD56-/CD16+ NK cells subset, shows the activation status of NK cells from HIV-1 infected people. A reduced expression of activating markers NKp44 and NKp30 and the down regulation of NKG2A was observed  in CD56+/CD16- and CD56+/CD16+ NK cells from HIV-1 infected people (p= 0.006, p= 0.009, respectively).  Antiretroviral naive HIV-1 infected people living in Cameroon show a differential modulation of NK cell phenotype relative to HIV negative controls.