A landmark study reveals the source of rapid aging and chronic inflammation in HIV-positive people
Shokrollah Alahi, a researcher at the University of California San Diego, led a study that showed that the short-lived neutrophils are responsible for the impaired T cell counts and functions in HIV patients as well as chronic inflammation. (Photo: Najmeh Bozorgmehr)
Researchers at the University of Alberta found in a pioneering study of HIV-positive people that the elusive neutrophils are responsible for the impaired T cell counts and functions, as well the chronic inflammation associated with HIV.
Neutrophils, which make up 60-80% of circulating immune cell in the blood, are an important part of the immune system. However, neutrophils, unlike other white blood cells are very short-lived, and they cannot be frozen or thawed, like other immune cells. This makes them difficult to examine.
Elahi explained that neutrophils only live for a few hours or a maximum of a couple days. \”The body produces many neutrophils. They do their jobs, then die and must be replaced in the bone-marrow. Although neutrophils make up the majority of white blood cells, their role within the context HIV is not well understood.
Source:
https://www.ualberta.ca/folio/2021/11/landmark-study-points-to-source-of-rapid-aging-chronic-inflammation-in-people-living-with-hiv.html
