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THURSDAY, May 23, 2019 (HealthDay News) — Early combination antiretroviral therapy (cART) leads to persistent functional T cell responses in most individuals with hyperacute HIV-1 infection, according to a study published online May 22 in Science Translational Medicine<\/i>.<\/p>\n
Zaza M. Ndhlovu, Ph.D., from the Africa Health Research Institute in Durban, South Africa, and colleagues examined the impact of cART on CD4+ T cell loss and exhaustion of HIV-specific CD8+ T cell responses by examining the evolution of immune responses in acutely infected individuals initiating treatment before peak viremia.<\/p>\n
The researchers observed a rapid decline in viral load and diminished magnitude of HIV-specific (tetramer +) CD8+ T cell responses with immediate treatment of Fiebig stages I and II infection versus untreated donors. A strong positive correlation was seen between cumulative viral antigen exposure before full cART-induced suppression and immune responses. For early-treated individuals, HIV-specific CD8+ T responses were characterized by increased CD127 and BCL-2 expression, greater in vitro interferon-\u03b3 secretion, and enhanced differentiation into effector memory cells. Reduced expression of genes associated with activation and apoptosis and up-regulation of prosurvival genes was seen in transcriptional analysis of tetramer+ CD8+ T cells from treated individuals. Compared with untreated HIV-infected individuals, early treatment also resulted in robust HIV-specific CD4+ T cell responses.<\/p>\n
“These data open up the possibility of harnessing immune responses generated under early treatment as a first critical step in the path toward immune-mediated HIV cure or remission strategies,” the authors write.<\/p>\n