Levels of major selenoproteins in T cells decrease during HIV infection and low molecular mass selenium compounds increase.

It has been observed previously that plasma selenium and glutathione levels are subnormal in HIV-infected individuals, and plasma glutathione peroxidase activity is decreased. Under these conditions the survival rate of AIDS patients is reduced significantly. In the present study, using 75Se-labeled human Jurkat T cells, we show that the levels of four 75Se-containing proteins are lower in HIV-infected cell populations than in uninfected cells. These major selenoproteins migrated as 57-, 26-, 21-, and 15-kDa species on SDS/PAGE gels. In our earlier studies, the 57-kDa protein was purified from T cells and identified as a subunit of thioredoxin reductase. The 26- and 21-kDa proteins were identified in immunoblot assays as the glutathione peroxidase (cGPX or GPX1) subunit and phospholipid hydroperoxide glutathione peroxidase (PHGPX or GPX4), respectively. We recently purified the 15-kDa protein and characterized it as a selenoprotein of unknown function. In contrast to selenoproteins, low molecular mass [75Se]compounds accumulated during HIV infection and migrated as a diffuse band near the front of SDS/PAGE gels.