Serum levels of Fas/Apo-1 and bcl-2 in children with HIV-1 infection

Apoptosis of CD4-positive T cells is considered to he in,ol, ed in depletion of CD4-positive T cells in adult patients with HIV-1 infection, In this report we evaluated serum levels of soluble Fas/Apo-1 and circulating bcl-2 protein (an antiapoptotic molecule) in HIV-1-infected children, acid 30 HIV-1 seronegative children. Significantly higher levels of Fas/Apo-1 were observed in 13 HIV-1-infected children than in non-infected control children (p < 0.001), whereas serum levels of bcl-2 were significantly decreased (p = 0.002). Seronegative children born to HIV-infected mothers displayed significantly decreased (p < 0.05) serum levels of bcl-2. By contrast, children born to HIV-seronegative mothers and suffering from acute lower respirator! infection had normal lo-cls of bcl-2 and Fas/Apo-1. These data suggest that upregulation of Fas/Apo-1 along with downregulation of bcl-2 protein may contribute to apoptosis in children with HIV-1 infection.