Source
Mayo Clinic, Rochester, MN 55905, USA.
Abstract
OBJECTIVE:
Because effective antiretroviral therapy (ART) reduces immune activation, we hypothesize that early changes in immune activation are associated with subsequent virologic response to therapy.
DESIGN:
Observational cohort study.
SETTING:
Institutional HIV clinic.
SUBJECTS:
Thirty-four adult HIV patients with virologic failure on their current antiretroviral regimen.
INTERVENTION:
Change to salvage regimen selected by patient's physician.
MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES:
Measures of immune activation at baseline and at 2, 4, 8, and 24 weeks after enrollment. Data were analyzed by proportional hazards (PH) models.
RESULTS:
PH models showed that reductions between baseline and week 2 in expression of CD38 (P = 0.02) or CD95 (P = 0.02) on CD4 T cells were associated with increased likelihood of achieving virologic suppression. Kaplan-Meier analysis demonstrated that patients who had reductions within the first 2 weeks of therapy in CD4 T-cell expression of CD38 (P = 0.003) or CD95 (P = 0.08) were more likely to achieve viral suppression than those who did not.
CONCLUSIONS:
Reduced CD4 T-cell expression of CD38 and CD95 occurring within 2 weeks of salvage therapy is associated with subsequent viral suppression. Monitoring CD38 and CD95 may allow earlier assessment of the response to ART.