title: Immune reconstitution in patients with HIV infection.
abstract: The peripheral T cell pool is damaged by HIV-1 infection and can be regenerated by production of new T lymphocytes either from the thymus or from proliferation of post-thymic T cells. A critical question for AIDS patients is whether treatment with antiretroviral drugs can restore the capability to produce new T lymphocytes. The development of a new assay of thymus function in adults (the measurement of T cell receptor excision circles, TRECs), and studies of thymus biopsies in untreated and treated HIV-1-infected patients, have suggested that in select patients the thymus can regenerate on antiretroviral therapy. New strategies to overcome the thymic atrophy of aging are needed to improve thymic function in the majority of AIDS patients.
authors.affiliation: Department of Medicine and the Center For AIDS Research and Human Vaccine Institute, Duke University Medical Center, Durham, North Carolina 27710, USA. gsem@acpub.duke.edu
authors.forename: Gregory D
authors.initials: GD
authors.lastname: Sempowski
authors.forename: Barton F
authors.initials: BF
authors.lastname: Haynes
mesh_terms: D019380:Anti-HIV Agents / Q000627:therapeutic use; D001284:Atrophy; D015658:HIV Infections / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000276:immunology*; D006801:Humans; D012038:Regeneration / Q000187:drug effects; D013601:T-Lymphocytes / Q000276:immunology*; D013950:Thymus Gland / Q000187:drug effects / Q000276:immunology* / Q000473:pathology
chemical_list: D019380:Anti-HIV Agents