T cell subset profile in healthy Zambian adults at the University Teaching Hospital

INTRODUCTION: Symptom-free human immunodeficiency virus antibody-negative Zambian adults (51 subjects, aged 20 to 62 years, 33.3% women and 66.7% men) were studied to establish T cell subset reference ranges. METHODS: We carried out across sectional study at the University Teaching Hospital, Lusaka. Blood samples were collected from healthy donor volunteers from hospital health care staff, between February and March 2015. Immunopheno typing was undertaken to characterize Tcell subsets using the markers CD3, CD4, CD8, α4β7, Ki67, CD25, CCR7, CD54RA, CD57, CD28, CD27 and HLA-DR. RESULTS: Among 51 volunteers, Women had significantly higher absolute CD4 count (median 1042; IQR 864, 1270) than in men (671; 545, 899) (p=0.003). Women also had more CD4 cells expressing homing, naïve, effector and effector memory T cell subsets compared to men. However, in the CD8 population, only the effector cells were significantly different with women expressing more than the males. CONCLUSION: We provide early reference range for T cell subsets in Zambian adults and conclude that among the African women some T cell subsets are higher than men.