Role of interleukin-10 in T helper cell dysfunction in asymptomatic individuals infected with the human immunodeficiency virus

The loss of T helper cell (TH) function in asymptomatic HIV type 1- infected individuals occurs before the decline in CD4⁺ T cells. At least part of the loss in TH function results from changes in immunoregulatory cytokine profiles. To investigate the role of IL-10 in such dysregulation, we tested whether: (a) expression of IL-10-specific mRNA would be upregulated in PBMC from asymptomatic, HIV-infected (HIV⁺) individuals; (b) PBMC from these same individuals would produce increased levels of IL-10 when stimulated in vitro with phytohemagglutinin; and (c) defective antigen-specific TH function could be restored by anti-IL-10 antibody. We observed that IL-10-specific mRNA was marginally upregulated, and increased levels of IL-10 were produced by PBMC from HIV⁺ individuals compared with PBMC from uninfected individuals. Those individuals whose TH function was more severely compromised produced higher levels of IL-10. Additionally, defective antigen- specific TH function in vitro could be reversed by anti-IL-10 antibody, including the response to HIV envelope synthetic peptides. Furthermore, the antigen-specific TH responses of HIV-uninfected PBMC could be reduced with IL-10, a process reversed by anti-IL-10. These results confirm that the early loss of TH function in HIV⁺ individuals is due at least in part to cytokine- induced immune dysregulation, and support the hypothesis of a switch from a predominant type I state to a predominant type 2 condition in HIV infection.