A new, striking morphological alteration of P-glycoprotein expression in NK cells from AIDS patients.

Natural killer cells from healthy donors express P-glycoprotein on their surface. This molecule is rearranged during the process of cell-mediated cytotoxicity and it appears to be clustered in the cell-to-cell contact regions. By contrast, in HIV-infected subjects this rearrangement is hindered. These results seem to be associated with cytoskeleton network alterations of the cell-mediated killing process occurring in AIDS patients and can contribute to the comprehension of the mechanisms of the natural killer cell deficiency found in these patients.