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Updated: Sep 25, 2025
Humanized NOD/SCID/IL2rγnull (hu-NSG) Mouse Model for HIV Replication and Latency Studies
Published on: January 7, 2019
Quantification of CD4 Recovery in Early-Treated Infants Living With HIV
Juliane Schröter1, Anet J N Anelone1,2, Rob J de Boer1
1Theoretical Biology & Bioinformatics, Utrecht University, Utrecht, the Netherlands; and.
Background:
Perinatally HIV-acquired infants benefit from an early antiretroviral treatment initiation. Thanks to a short viral exposure time, their immune system can be maintained or reconstituted, allowing a "normal" immune development.
Methods:
In this study, we mathematically modeled and quantified individual CD4+ T-cell reconstitution of a subset of 276 children who started treatment within 6 months of age and achieved sustained viral suppression. Considering natural age differences in CD4+ T-cell dynamics, we fitted distances to age-matched healthy reference values with a linear model approaching an asymptote.
Results:
Depleted CD4+ percentages (CD4%) and CD4+ counts (CD4ct) restored healthy levels during treatment. CD4ct recovered with a median rate of 4 cells/µL/d, and individual recovery rates were correlated negatively with their initial CD4ct. CD4 values at onset of treatment decrease with age, whereas recovery times and levels seem to be age-independent. CD4 recovery correlates positively with viral suppression, and the stabilization of CD4 levels usually occurs after viral suppression. CD4 levels stabilize within 3-13 months after treatment initiation. The recovery dynamics of the CD4% is comparable with those of the CD4ct.
Conclusions:
In early-treated children with successful viral suppression, the CD4 depletion is typically mild and CD4+ T cells tend to "fully" recover in numbers.
