title: Relationship of CD4+ T cell counts and HIV type 1 viral loads in untreated, infected adolescents. Adolescent Medicine HIV/AIDS Research Network.
abstract: The REACH Project (Reaching for Excellence in Adolescent Care and Health) of the Adolescent Medicine HIV/AIDS Research Network was designed as a study of an adolescent cohort composed of HIV-1-infected and -uninfected subjects. The goal of the analysis presented was to examine the relationship of CD4+ T cell counts and HIV-1 plasma viral loads in adolescents. The CD4+ T cell counts of 84 HIV+ subjects who were 13 to 19 years of age were measured at the clinical sites, using ACTG standardized techniques. HIV-1 viral loads in frozen plasma were determined by the NASBA/NucliSens assay at a central laboratory. Past and current treatment with antiretroviral drugs was determined by medical record abstraction and interview data. The slope of the line generated by regressing log10 HIV-1 RNA (copies/ml) versus CD4+ T cell counts of REACH subjects who are antiretroviral drug naive was negative and significantly different than zero. A negative association has also been reported for antiretroviral drug-naive, adult males in the Pittsburgh Men's Study, a component of MACS (Pitt-MACS) (Mellors J, et al.: Science 1996;272:1167). These data show that in adolescents, as in adults, HIV-1 RNA concentrations are correlated with corresponding absolute CD4+ T cell count. The slopes of the lines generated with data from each cohort were different (p = 0.003). In addition to age, there are sex and racial differences in the makeup of the two cohorts. Any or all of these differences may affect the slopes of the lines.
authors.affiliation: Center for Virology Immunology and Infectious Disease Research, Children's Research Institute, Children's National Medical Center, Washington, DC 20010, USA. holland@gwis2.circ.gwu.edu
authors.forename: C A
authors.initials: CA
authors.lastname: Holland
authors.forename: J H
authors.initials: JH
authors.lastname: Ellenberg
authors.forename: C M
authors.initials: CM
authors.lastname: Wilson
authors.forename: S D
authors.initials: SD
authors.lastname: Douglas
authors.forename: D C
authors.initials: DC
authors.lastname: Futterman
authors.forename: L A
authors.initials: LA
authors.lastname: Kingsley
authors.forename: A B
authors.initials: AB
authors.lastname: Moscicki
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D018791:CD4 Lymphocyte Count; D005260:Female; D015658:HIV Infections / Q000276:immunology / Q000821:virology*; D015497:HIV-1 / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D012367:RNA, Viral / Q000097:blood*; D019562:Viral Load
chemical_list: D012367:RNA, Viral