Mycobacterium tuberculosis upregulates coreceptors CCR5 and CXCR4 while HIV modulates CD14 favoring concurrent infection

Tuberculosis is the most frequent coinfection in humans infected with HIV-1, but little is known about mechanisms that favors coinfection. The aim of this work is to understand tuberculosis and HIV infections. We determined the pattern of expression of CD11c, CD14, CD40, CCR5, and CXCR4 and quantified IL-1 beta, IL-6, IL-8, TNF-alpha, and RANTES in tuberculosis patients and HIV patients. Monocytes from healthy PPD+ volunteers (HP+V) stimulated with intracellular proteins (IP), lipids, and polysaccharides (PLS) from Mycobacterium tuberculosis down regulate CD11c expression (p < 0.05). On the contrary, CD14 expression was elevated in tuberculosis patients (p < 0.05) and HIV-infected patients (p < 0.05). CD14 expression was elevated on monocytes from HP+V stimulated with PLS and lipids (p < 0.05). CD40 low expression was found in tuberculosis patients and on monocytes from HP+V stimulated with lipids, but it was elevated in HIV-infected patients (p < 0.05). CXCR4 and CCR5 expression was high in pulmonary tuberculosis patients and low in HIV-infected patients (p < 0.05). Finally, CCR5(+) monocytes from HP+V after stimulation with PLS and CXCR4(+) lymphocytes were elevated after stimulation with IP (p < 0.05). In general, high levels of IL-1 beta, IL6, and TNF-alpha were found in all groups, but low levels of RANTES were found in pulmonary tuberculosis patients. In conclusion, the pulmonary tuberculosis patients have a microenvironment that facilitates the HIV infection through three possible mechanisms: (1) increasing the coreceptor for HIV entrance, ( 2) increasing proinflammatory cytokines, and (3) down-regulating RANTES. At the same time, HIV patients have a microenvironment that facilitates entry of M. tuberculosis into macrophages through CD14.