title: Correlating HIV tropism with immunological response under combination antiretroviral therapy.
abstract: A significant percentage of patients infected with HIV-1 experience only suboptimal CD4 cell recovery while treated with combination therapy (cART). It is still unclear whether viral properties such as cell tropism play a major role in this incomplete immune response. This study therefore intended to follow the tropism evolution of the HIV-1 envelope during periods of suppressive cART.
  
  
  
  Viruses from two distinct patient groups, one with good and another one with poor CD4 recovery after 5 years of suppressive cART, were genotypically analysed for viral tropism at baseline and at the end of the study period.
  
  
  
  Patients with CCR5-tropic CC-motif chemokine receptor 5 viruses at baseline tended to maintain this tropism to the study end. Patients who had a CXCR4-tropic CXC-motif chemokine receptor 4 virus at baseline were overrepresented in the poor CD4 recovery group. Overall, however, the majority of patients presented with CCR5-tropic viruses at follow-up.
  
  
  
  Our data lend support to the hypothesis that tropism determination can be used as a parameter for disease progression even if analysed long before the establishment of a poorer immune response. Moreover, the lasting predominating CCR5-tropism during periods of full viral control suggests the involvement of cellular mechanisms that preferentially reduce CXCR4-tropic viruses during cART.
authors.affiliation: Molecular Virology, Department of Biomedicine - Petersplatz, University of Basel, Basel, Switzerland.
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Bader
authors.affiliation: Swiss HIV Cohort Study (SHCS) Data Center, University Hospital Lausanne, Lausanne, Switzerland.
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Schöni-Affolter
authors.affiliation: Institute of Medical Virology, National Center for Retroviruses, University of Zürich, Zürich, Switzerland.
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Böni
authors.affiliation: Institute for Infectious Diseases, University of Berne, Berne, Switzerland.
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Gorgievski-Hrisoho
authors.affiliation: Department of Microbiology, Ente Ospedaliero Cantonale, Bellinzona, Switzerland.
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Martinetti
authors.affiliation: Division of Infectious Diseases and Hospital Epidemiology, University Hospital Basel, Basel, Switzerland.
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Battegay
authors.affiliation: Molecular Virology, Department of Biomedicine - Petersplatz, University of Basel, Basel, Switzerland.
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Klimkait
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D044966:Anti-Retroviral Agents / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D023241:Antiretroviral Therapy, Highly Active; D018791:CD4 Lymphocyte Count; D015331:Cohort Studies; D005260:Female; D060005:Genotyping Techniques; D015658:HIV Infections / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000276:immunology* / Q000821:virology; D015497:HIV-1 / Q000235:genetics / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D016896:Treatment Outcome; D056189:Viral Tropism
chemical_list: D044966:Anti-Retroviral Agents
keywords: HIV; antiretroviral therapy; combination; immune response; tropism