{"id":15516,"date":"2011-08-01T11:17:24","date_gmt":"2011-08-01T11:17:24","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/i-base.info\/htb\/?p=15516"},"modified":"2011-08-01T11:17:24","modified_gmt":"2011-08-01T11:17:24","slug":"treatment-in-seroconversion-maintains-hiv-specific-immune-responses-similar-to-long-term-slow-progressors","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/i-base.info\/htb\/15516","title":{"rendered":"Treatment in seroconversion maintains HIV specific immune responses similar to long term slow progressors"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>Charlotte Walker, HIV i-Base<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Recent studies by Hocqueloux et al suggest that long-term control of viraemia is possible after discontinuation of prolonged ART initiated at seroconversion. [1] This study compared a cohort of 15 long-term non-progressors (LTNPs) with spontaneously controlled viraemia with a cohort of 20 long-term treated HIV-1 seroconverters (LTTS), all of whom started ART at the time of seroconversion resulting in ART-induced controlled viraemia. [2]<\/p>\n<p>LTNPs were defined as having an absence of clinical progression with no CD4 T cell and without using treatment. They have controlled viraemia (are \u0091elite controllers\u0092) and low viral reservoirs.<\/p>\n<p>Immunovirological parameters defined for this study included:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>The size of viral reservoirs and residual replication (cell associated HIV-1 DNA and RNA respectively)<\/li>\n<li>Cellular immunity (HIV-1 specific CD4 and CD8 T cells)<\/li>\n<li>The role of HIV-1 specific CD8+ T cells in viraemic control<\/li>\n<li>Polyfunctionality associated with virological control<\/li>\n<li>Slow improvement of HIV-1 specific CD8 T cell function in LTTS<\/li>\n<li>HIV-1 specific CD8 T-cells in LTNPs are functional in relation to cytokine production, proliferation and cytotoxic capacity<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Inclusion criteria of the two study groups included:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>LTNPs: =&gt;7 years with &lt;1000 HIV-1 copies\/mL, CD4 &gt;500 cells\/mm3 in absence of ART, clinically healthy and with no history of OIs<\/li>\n<li>LTTS: HIV-1-positive on ART since seroconversion, ART =&gt;4 years and long-term viral suppression (&lt;50 copies\/mL)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Study participants were matched in terms of gender, age, ethnicity, transmission route, CD4 count, viral load and cell-associated DNA and RNA. The only significant difference (p=0.06) was between CD4\/CD8 T-cell ratios.<\/p>\n<p>Results of the study suggest comparable levels of highly polyfunctional HIV-1 specific CD4+ and CD8+ T cells in both LTTS and LTNPs. Polyfunctional T-cell profiles and low viraemia in the presence\/absence of ART were seen in both groups. There was a trend towards a higher magnitude and breadth of HIV-1 specific CD8+ T cells in LTNPs compared to LTTS which is thought to have been driven by a response against the GAG proteins.<\/p>\n<p>The study concluded that prolonged ART initiated at the point of HIV seroconversion is associated with immuno-virological features which resemble those of HIV-1 LTNPs.<\/p>\n<p>References<\/p>\n<ol>\n<li>Hicqueloux L et al. Long-term immunovirologic control following antiretroviral therapy interruption in patients treated at the time of primary HIV-1 infection. AIDS. 2010 Jun 19;24(10):1598-601.<\/li>\n<li>Kinloch-de Loes S et al. HIV-1 specific T cells during prolonged antiretroviral treatment in HIV-1 seroconverters. 17th Annual BHIVA Conference, 6\u00968 April 2011, Bournemouth. Abstract 029.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Charlotte Walker, HIV i-Base Recent studies by Hocqueloux et al suggest that long-term control of viraemia is possible after discontinuation of prolonged ART initiated at seroconversion. [1] This study compared a cohort of 15 long-term non-progressors (LTNPs) with spontaneously controlled &hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,41,15],"tags":[52],"class_list":["post-15516","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-conference-reports","category-treatment-strategies","category-basic-science-and-immunology","tag-bhiva-17th-2011"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/i-base.info\/htb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15516","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/i-base.info\/htb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/i-base.info\/htb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/i-base.info\/htb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/i-base.info\/htb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15516"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/i-base.info\/htb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15516\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/i-base.info\/htb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15516"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/i-base.info\/htb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15516"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/i-base.info\/htb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15516"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}