Immunologic nonresponders and T-regulatory cells in HIV-1 infection

摘要

A proportion of patients (~10%) [1-3] with undetectable viral load under highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART) displays an insufficient CD4~+ T-cell recovery. Designed as immunologic nonresponders (INRs), they experience more opportunistic infections [4], along with cardiovascular [5], renal [6], and neurological [7] complications, and cancers [8], and exhibit an increased mortality [4,9]. In HIV infection, T-regulatory cells (Tregs) have been shown not only to limit the immune hyperactivation [10], but also inhibit specific antiviral responses [11]. Our aim was to investigate the possible role of Tregs in the impaired immune reconstitution of HIV-1-infected patients by analyzing the relative and absolute number of Tregs in INRs and in immunologic responders.