Altered polarization and impaired phagocytic activity of lung macrophages in people with HIV and COPD.

BACKGROUND People with HIV (PWH) have an increased risk of developing Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD). METHODS We phenotyped lung macrophages in four subgroups: M1 (CD40+CD163-), M2 (CD40-CD163+), Double Positives (CD40+CD163+), Double Negatives (CD40-CD163-) and determined their phagocytic capacity in PWH with and without COPD. RESULTS PWH with COPD have more double negative macrophages (84.1%) vs PWH without (54.3%) vs controls (23.9%) (p=0.004) and reduced phagocytosis (p=0.012). Double negative macrophages had the worst phagocytic capacity (p<0.001). CONCLUSIONS PWH with COPD have an abundance of non-polarized macrophages which have poor phagocytic capacity therefore predispose them to increased risk of disease progression.