title: Resting regulatory CD4 T cells: a site of HIV persistence in patients on long-term effective antiretroviral therapy.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  In HIV-infected patients on long-term HAART, virus persistence in resting long-lived CD4 T cells is a major barrier to curing the infection. Cell quiescence, by favouring HIV latency, reduces the risk of recognition and cell destruction by cytotoxic lymphocytes. Several cell-activation-based approaches have been proposed to disrupt cell quiescence and then virus latency, but these approaches have not eradicated the virus. CD4+CD25+ regulatory T cells (Tregs) are a CD4+ T-cell subset with particular activation properties. We investigated the role of these cells in virus persistence in patients on long-term HAART.
  
  
  RESULTS
  We found evidence of infection of resting Tregs (HLADR(-)CD69(-)CD25(hi)FoxP3+CD4+ T cells) purified from patients on prolonged HAART. HIV DNA harbouring cells appear more abundant in the Treg subset than in non-Tregs. The half-life of the Treg reservoir was estimated at 20 months. Since Tregs from patients on prolonged HAART showed hyporesponsiveness to cell activation and inhibition of HIV-specific cytotoxic T lymphocyte-related functions upon activation, therapeutics targeting cell quiescence to induce virus expression may not be appropriate for purging the Treg reservoir.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Our results identify Tregs as a particular compartment within the latent reservoir that may require a specific approach for its purging.
authors.affiliation: INSERM U802, Université Paris 11, Le Kremlin Bicêtre, France.
authors.forename: Tu-Anh
authors.initials: TA
authors.lastname: Tran
authors.forename: Marie-Ghislaine
authors.initials: MG
authors.lastname: de Goër de Herve
authors.forename: Houria
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Hendel-Chavez
authors.forename: Bamory
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Dembele
authors.forename: Emilie
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Le Névot
authors.forename: Karim
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Abbed
authors.forename: Coralie
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Pallier
authors.forename: Cécile
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Goujard
authors.forename: Jacques
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Gasnault
authors.forename: Jean-François
authors.initials: JF
authors.lastname: Delfraissy
authors.forename: Anne-Marie
authors.initials: AM
authors.lastname: Balazuc
authors.forename: Yassine
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Taoufik
mesh_terms: D023241:Antiretroviral Therapy, Highly Active; D015496:CD4-Positive T-Lymphocytes / Q000821:virology*; D004197:Disease Reservoirs; D006678:HIV / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D015658:HIV Infections / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000276:immunology / Q000821:virology; D006801:Humans; D020133:Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction