Dendritic cells (DCs), which are the most potent antigen-presenting cells for T lymphocytes, are targets for HIV in vitro and in vivo. Antigen presentation by DCs has been suggested to be impaired during HIV infection; however, the extent to which DCs from HIV+ individuals are altered, particularly in lymphoid organs where T cell stimulation takes place, is not clear. To address this question, the levels of expression of functionally important molecules by spleen DCs from HIV+ patients (n = 6), and HIV- organ donors (n = 5) were compared. By rare event analysis of flow cytometry data, spleen DCs from HIV+ patients were not depleted, representing 0.6 +/- 0.4% of spleen mononuclear cells compared with 0.8 +/- 0.5% in HIV- spleens. Fresh HIV+ spleen DCs were MHC II+ and weakly CD86+CD40+, but negative for CD83 and CD80, and hence had a normal phenotype, showing no signs of in vivo activation. After 24 hr of culture, they upregulated the expression of MHC II, CD40, CD80, and CD86 to levels just as high as those on DCs from organ transplant donors. However, cultured DCs from HIV+ spleens showed lower expression of CD83, compared with DCs from HIV- spleens. The biological significance of this observation will be appreciated further when the function of this molecule is better known. These results suggest that putative defects in antigen presentation by DCs from HIV+ patients are not related to the surface expression of MHC II, CD40, CD80, or CD86.