Investigation of the significance of Oil Red O-positive macrophage excess in bronchoalveolar lavage fluid during HIV infection

L. Lacoste-Collin, G. Martin-Blondel, C. Basset-Leobon, V. Lauwers-Cances, D. d’Aure, J. Aziza, A. Berry, B Marchou, M.B. Delisle and M. Courtade-Saidi Investigation of the significance of Oil Red O-positive macrophage excess in bronchoalveolar lavage fluid during HIV infection Objective: To assess the significance of increased levels of Oil Red O-positive macrophages (ORO-PM) in bronchoalveolar lavage fluids (BALFs) from HIV-positive patients. Methods: Cytological data for seventy BALF samples from 66 consecutive HIV-infected patients were analysed according to antiretroviral therapy regimen, presence of Pneumocystis jiroveci infection, blood CD4+T cell count, HIV-1 viral load and plasma lipid levels. Non-parametric tests were used to compare the values between groups. Results: The percentages of ORO-PM were high in this group: 40% [6–80] (median [interquartile range]). They were positively correlated with the BALF total cell count, 21% [5–48.5] for 300 cells/mm3 (P