Shokrollah Elahi led a new study showing that short-lived white blood cells called neutrophils play a role in impaired T cell functions and counts in people with HIV, as well as the chronic inflammation that is common with the virus. (Photo: Najmeh Bozorgmehr)

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In a groundbreaking study of people living with HIV, University of Alberta researchers found that elusive white blood cells called neutrophils play a role in impaired T cell functions and counts, as well as the associated chronic inflammation that is common with the virus.

Neutrophils are a foundational part of the body’s immune system and the most abundant type of white blood cell, making up about 60 to 80 per cent of circulating immune cells in the blood. However, unlike other types of white blood cells, neutrophils are extremely short-lived and cannot be frozen and thawed like other immune cells, making them extremely difficult to examine, said study lead Shokrollah Elahi.

“Neutrophils live for hours to a day or two maximum,” Elahi said. “The body produces a lot of neutrophils, and they do their job and then they die and have to be regenerated in the bone marrow. But despite the fact that neutrophils are the most abundant white blood cells in the blood circulation, their role in the context of HIV has not been very well defined.”