Cellular Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV)–Protective Factors: A Comparison of HIV-Exposed Seronegative Female Sex Workers and Female Blood Donors in Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire

Cellular factors that may protect against human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection were investigated in 27 HIV-exposed seronegative (ESN) female sex workers (FSWs) and 27 HIV-seronegative female blood donors. Compared with blood donors, ESN FSWs had significantly decreased expression levels of C-X-C chemokine receptor 4 (CXCR4), but not of C-C chemokine receptor 5, on both memory ( ) and naive ( ) P ! .001 P p .041 CD4 + T cells. CXCR4 down-regulation was associated with prolonged duration of commercial sex work by ESN FSWs. CD38 expression on CD8 + T cells was significantly increased among ESN FSWs, compared with that among blood donors ( ). There were no differences in HLA-DR and CD62L expression between P p .017 blood donors and ESN FSWs. Proportions of T cells producing the b-chemokines RANTES (regulated on activation, normally T cell‐expressed and ‐secreted), macrophage inflammatory protein (MIP)‐1a, and MIP1b or the cytokines interleukin (IL)‐2, IL-4, interferon-g, and tumor necrosis factor‐a, were similar in the 2 groups. These data indicate that ESN FSWs differ from HIV-seronegative female blood donors with respect to immunological factors that have no clear protective potential against HIV transmission.