Evidence of thymic function in heavily antiretroviral-treated human immunodeficiency virus type 1-infected adults with long-term virologic treatment failure.
Thymic function was evaluated in 32 heavily antiretroviral-treated human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1)-infected adults with long-term virologic treatment failure by measuring thymic volume, by determining the absolute number of naive T cell phenotypes, and by determining the number of cells carrying T cell receptor excision circles (TRECs). There was a significant inverse correlation between age and thymic volume (r=-0.415; P=.018), and there was a significant direct correlation between thymic volume and total naive T cell counts (r=0.529; P=.002), naive CD4(+) cell counts (r=0.437; P=.012), naive CD8(+) cell counts (r=0.467; P=.007), and TREC levels (r=0.391; P=.027). In conclusion, this study found clear evidence that the thymus of heavily antiretroviral-treated HIV-1-infected adults with long-term virologic treatment failure is actively engaged in thymopoiesis, which generates new naive T cells for the peripheral lymphocyte pool.
Viral Hepatitis and AIDS Study Group, Department of Internal Medicine, Virgen del Rocío University Hospital, Seville, Spain. juan_delgado@wanadoo.es
Juan
J
Delgado
Manuel
M
Leal
Ezequiel
E
Ruiz-Mateos
Manuel
M
Martínez-Moya
Amalia
A
Rubio
Elena
E
Merchante
Rafael
R
de la Rosa
Armando
A
Sánchez-Quijano
Eduardo
E
Lissen
D000328:Adult; D023241:Antiretroviral Therapy, Highly Active; D002452:Cell Count; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D015321:Gene Rearrangement; D015658:HIV Infections / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000503:physiopathology*; D015497:HIV-1; D006801:Humans; D016131:Lymphocyte Subsets / Q000378:metabolism; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction; D012367:RNA, Viral / Q000097:blood; D011948:Receptors, Antigen, T-Cell / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D018709:Statistics, Nonparametric; D013950:Thymus Gland / Q000187:drug effects / Q000503:physiopathology*; D014057:Tomography, X-Ray Computed; D019562:Viral Load
D012367:RNA, Viral; D011948:Receptors, Antigen, T-Cell