Positive effects of combined antiretroviral therapy on CD4+ T cell homeostasis and function in advanced HIV disease

B Autran1, G Carcelain, T S Li

  • 1Laboratoire d'Immunologie Cellulaire, URA CNRS 625, Hôpital Pitié-Salpétriêre, 47-83 Boulevard de l'Hôpital, Paris, France. autran@psl.ap-hop-paris.fr

Science (New York, N.Y.)
|July 4, 1997
PubMed

Highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART) increases CD4(+) cell numbers, but its ability to correct the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-induced immune deficiency remains unknown. A three-phase T cell reconstitution was demonstrated after HAART, with: (i) an early rise of memory CD4(+) cells, (ii) a reduction in T cell activation correlated to the decreasing retroviral activity together with an improved CD4(+) T cell reactivity to recall antigens, and (iii) a late rise of "naïve" CD4(+) lymphocytes while CD8(+) T cells declined, however, without complete normalization of these parameters. Thus, decreasing the HIV load can reverse HIV-driven activation and CD4(+) T cell defects in advanced HIV-infected patients.

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