title: Assessment of CD8 T cell immune activation markers to monitor response to antiretroviral therapy among HIV-1 infected patients in Côte d'Ivoire.
abstract: Because of the paucity of plasma HIV RNA viral load (VL) tests in resource-poor settings, the CD4(+) T cell count is often used as the sole laboratory marker to evaluate the effectiveness of antiretroviral therapy (ART) in HIV-infected patients. In untreated patients, the level of activated T cells is positively correlated with VL and represents a prognostic marker of HIV infection. However, little is known about its value to predict early drug failure, taking into account the relatively high non-specific immune activation background observed in many resource-limited tropical countries. We assessed the use of immune activation markers (expression of CD38 and/or human leucocyte antigen-DR on CD8(+) lymphocytes) to predict virological response to ART in a cohort of HIV-1 infected patients in Abidjan, Côte d'Ivoire. Correlations between VL, absolute CD4(+) T cell counts and immune activation levels were examined in 111 HIV patient samples at baseline and after 6 and 12 months of therapy. The percentage of CD38(+) CD8(+) T cells appeared to be the best correlate of VL. In contrast, changes in CD4(+) T cell counts provided a poor correlate of virological response to ART. Unfortunately, CD38(+) CD8(+) percentages lacked specificity for the determination of early virological drug failure and did not appear to be reliable surrogates of RNA viral load. CD38(+) CD8(+) T cell percentages may, rather, provide a sensitive estimate of the overall immune recovery, and be a useful extra laboratory parameter to CD4 counts that would contribute to improve the clinical management of HIV-infected people when VL testing facilities are lacking.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Tropical Medicine, Antwerp, Belgium. pondoa@itg.be
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Ondoa
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Koblavi-Dème
authors.forename: M-Y
authors.initials: MY
authors.lastname: Borget
authors.forename: M L
authors.initials: ML
authors.lastname: Nolan
authors.forename: J N
authors.initials: JN
authors.lastname: Nkengasong
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Kestens
mesh_terms: D036541:ADP-ribosyl Cyclase / Q000276:immunology; D051997:ADP-ribosyl Cyclase 1; D000328:Adult; D015703:Antigens, CD / Q000276:immunology; D023241:Antiretroviral Therapy, Highly Active / Q000379:methods*; D019540:Area Under Curve; D015415:Biomarkers / Q000032:analysis; D018414:CD8-Positive T-Lymphocytes / Q000276:immunology*; D015331:Cohort Studies; D005260:Female; D015658:HIV Infections / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000276:immunology; D015497:HIV-1 / Q000276:immunology*; D006684:HLA-DR Antigens / Q000276:immunology; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008562:Membrane Glycoproteins; D012372:ROC Curve; D016896:Treatment Outcome; D019562:Viral Load / Q000379:methods
chemical_list: D015703:Antigens, CD; D015415:Biomarkers; D006684:HLA-DR Antigens; D008562:Membrane Glycoproteins; D036541:ADP-ribosyl Cyclase; C498154:CD38 protein, human; D051997:ADP-ribosyl Cyclase 1