Burgisser P, Spertini F, Suter C, Pagani JL, Meylan P; International Conference on AIDS.
Int Conf AIDS. 1996 Jul 7-12; 11: 306 (abstract no. Th.B.4329).
Division of Immunology and Allergy, CHUV, Lausanne, Switzerland. Fax: +41 21 314 07 89.
Objective: To investigate whether the response to antiretroviral treatment in lymph node cells (LNC) parallels the response in blood. Methods: LNC were obtained by fine-needle aspiration 15 days before, and 0, 1 and 6 months after treatment initiation (blinded AZT, AZT+ddC, or AZT+ddC+saquinavir). HIV-1 unspliced RNA levels in LNC and plasma were measured by competitive RT-PCR. The phenotype of LNC and PBMC was assessed by flow cytometry. Results: (1) In 3 out of 6 subjects, a substantial decrease of plasma viremia was observed at month 1 (4.9-, 2.7-, 111-fold) and/or at month 6 (7.4-, 34-, 16-fold, respectively); in contrast, the reduction in the amount of HIV RNA in LNC never exceeded 3.5-fold and was always less than in plasma. There was a modest, mainly transient, elevation of CD4+ T cell counts at month 1 (+110, +58 and +129 microliters-1, respectively). The CD4/CD8 T cell ratio in LNC was increased at month 6 in the first 2 subjects (1.6- and 2.0-fold, respectively), while this ratio increased transiently at month 1 (1.7-fold) in the 3rd subject. (2) In 2 other individuals, there was only a transient decrease of plasma viremia at month 1 (2.9- and 3.9-fold), whereas the level of HIV RNA in LNC did not change or even increased slightly. There was little change in CD4+ T cell counts and an about 2-fold decrease of the CD4/CD8 T cell ratio in LNC. (3) Changes in the levels of spliced HIV RNAs in LNC from the first 5 subjects, measured by semi-quantitative RT-PCR, were similar to those of unspliced RNA. (4) In sharp contrast, the 6th subject had a parallel decrease (greater than 67-fold) of the number of copies of HIV RNA in plasma and LNC. This was also the only patient in whom a major increase of CD4+ T cell count in blood was observed (+272 and +539 microliters-1 at months 1 and 6, respectively). Nevertheless, the increase of the CD4/CD8 T cell ratio in LNC was in the range of that measured in the first 2 subjects. Conclusions: These preliminary results suggest that the reduction of viral load in plasma does not necessarily reflect that in lymph nodes, and that there is no straightforward relationship between changes in CD4+ T cell counts in blood and changes in CD4/CD8 T cell ratios in lymph node cells.
Publication Types:
Keywords:
- Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome
- Antigens, CD4
- Antigens, CD8
- Antiretroviral Therapy, Highly Active
- CD4 Lymphocyte Count
- CD4-Positive T-Lymphocytes
- CD8-Positive T-Lymphocytes
- HIV Infections
- Humans
- Lymph Nodes
- Saquinavir
- T-Lymphocytes
- Viral Load
- Viremia
- Zalcitabine
- Zidovudine
- drug therapy
- immunology
- therapy
Other ID:
UI: 102220609
From Meeting Abstracts