title: The in vivo effects of combination antiretroviral drug therapy on peripheral blood CD34+ cell colony-forming units from HIV type 1-infected patients.
abstract: This study investigated the effects of a combination antiretroviral drug regimen (indinavir and two nucleoside analogs or ritonavir and saquinavir) on the levels of CD34+ colony-forming units (CFU-Cs) in the peripheral blood of HIV-1+ patients. Ten patients who were receiving combination antiretroviral drug therapy were studied and their peripheral blood CD34+ CFU-Cs were measured prior to, 1 month after, and 4 to 6 months after the commencement of therapy. The levels of CD4+ T cells increased significantly in these patients (paired t test, p = 0.0027) and plasma viral load became undetectable in all but one patient studied. Measurements of the CFU-Cs showed that their levels tended to increase on the commencement of therapy, and these levels became significantly higher than baseline by 4-6 months (paired t test, p = 0.0293). Analysis of the different colony phenotype demonstrated that the main contributor to this increase consisted of burst-forming unit erythroid (BFU-E) cells. These data also demonstrated that there was an inverse correlation between the rise in CFU-Cs at 4-6 months compared with CD4+ cell, CD8+ cell, and neutrophil counts, and hemoglobin concentration, at baseline. The demonstrated increase in the levels of CD34+ CFU-Cs suggests that HIV-1 may have an inhibitory effect on these cells in vivo, and that this inhibition may be abrogated by suppression of viral replication.
authors.affiliation: Department of Genito-Urinary Medicine and Communicable Diseases, Jefferiss Research Trust Laboratories, Imperial College School of Medicine, London, England.
authors.forename: G B
authors.initials: GB
authors.lastname: Adams
authors.forename: A S
authors.initials: AS
authors.lastname: Pym
authors.forename: M C
authors.initials: MC
authors.lastname: Poznansky
authors.forename: M O
authors.initials: MO
authors.lastname: McClure
authors.forename: J N
authors.initials: JN
authors.lastname: Weber
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D019380:Anti-HIV Agents / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D018952:Antigens, CD34; D002478:Cells, Cultured; D004359:Drug Therapy, Combination; D015658:HIV Infections / Q000097:blood / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000276:immunology* / Q000821:virology; D017320:HIV Protease Inhibitors / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D015497:HIV-1; D006412:Hematopoietic Stem Cells / Q000276:immunology*; D006801:Humans; D019469:Indinavir / Q000627:therapeutic use; D008875:Middle Aged; D019438:Ritonavir / Q000627:therapeutic use; D019258:Saquinavir / Q000627:therapeutic use
chemical_list: D019380:Anti-HIV Agents; D018952:Antigens, CD34; D017320:HIV Protease Inhibitors; D019469:Indinavir; D019258:Saquinavir; D019438:Ritonavir