title: Antiretroviral monotherapy in early stage human immunodeficiency virus disease has no detectable effect on virus load in peripheral blood and lymph nodes.
abstract: Initiation of antiretroviral monotherapy early in the course of infection with human immunodeficiency virus may result in a temporary slowing in the rate of disease progression; however, little is known about the virologic effects of early therapy. Virus load was measured in peripheral blood and lymph nodes from 16 antiretroviral-naive patients with a mean CD4 T lymphocyte count of 659 cells/microliter at baseline and after 8 weeks of either no treatment or zidovudine therapy. CD4 T lymphocyte counts and all virologic parameters examined remained unchanged regardless of zidovudine treatment status. Histopathology and virus distribution within lymph nodes remained constant between baseline and week 8 in each patient, indicating that the virologic and histologic parameters examined in a single lymph node are representative of a systemic process. Early antiretroviral monotherapy with zidovudine had no effect on virologic parameters in this group of patients with relatively high CD4 T lymphocyte counts and low measures of virus load at baseline.
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Immunoregulation, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, Bethesda, MD 20892, USA.
authors.forename: O J
authors.initials: OJ
authors.lastname: Cohen
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Pantaleo
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Holodniy
authors.forename: C H
authors.initials: CH
authors.lastname: Fox
authors.forename: J M
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Orenstein
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Schnittman
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Niu
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Graziosi
authors.forename: G N
authors.initials: GN
authors.lastname: Pavlakis
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Lalezari
authors.forename: J A
authors.initials: JA
authors.lastname: Bartlett
authors.forename: R T
authors.initials: RT
authors.lastname: Steigbigel
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Cohn
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Novak
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: McMahon
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Bilello
authors.forename: A S
authors.initials: AS
authors.lastname: Fauci
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000998:Antiviral Agents / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D001483:Base Sequence; D015415:Biomarkers; D018791:CD4 Lymphocyte Count; D017931:DNA Primers / Q000737:chemistry; D005260:Female; D006678:HIV / Q000254:growth & development*; D015658:HIV Infections / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000382:microbiology; D054303:HIV Reverse Transcriptase; D006801:Humans; D017403:In Situ Hybridization; D008198:Lymph Nodes / Q000382:microbiology; D008297:Male; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D012194:RNA-Directed DNA Polymerase / Q000378:metabolism; D018894:Reverse Transcriptase Inhibitors / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D013997:Time Factors; D014779:Virus Replication; D015215:Zidovudine / Q000627:therapeutic use*
chemical_list: D000998:Antiviral Agents; D015415:Biomarkers; D017931:DNA Primers; D018894:Reverse Transcriptase Inhibitors; D015215:Zidovudine; D054303:HIV Reverse Transcriptase; D012194:RNA-Directed DNA Polymerase