7th Annual Conference Of The British HIV Association [BHIVA] 27 – 29 April 2001, The Hove Centre, Brighton

[AUTHOR(S):] FM Gotch¹, N Imami¹, G Hardy¹, C Burton¹, A Pires¹, R Moss², BG Gazzard^1
1 Imperial College School of Medicine, Chelsea and Westminster Hospital, London, UK, and ² Immune Response Corporation, Carlsbad, California, USA

BHIVA Conf 2001 Apr 27-29;7:O32

OBJECTIVE: To assess the reconstitution of cellular immune responses after novel therapeutic immunomodulation.

METHODS: HIV-1 specific CD4 and CD8 T-cell responses have been quantified in vitro in HIV-positive persons following the administration of cytokines, therapeutic vaccines and following structured treatment interruption or drug therapy change.

RESULTS: Administration of cytokines (±therapeutic vaccines), in highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART)-treated patients improves both CD4⁺ and CD8⁺ HIV-1 specific T-cell responses even in late-stage disease. Virus-specific T-cell responses are also seen during autoimmunisation (occurring during transient viraemia or during structured treatment interruptions), and following therapy change from a protease inhibitor- to a non-nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitor-based HAART regimen. However, reconstitution of the HIV-1 specific immune response is mostly transient and reversal to the previous anergic state is rapid.

CONCLUSIONS: Viral reservoirs in the latently infected resting CD4⁺ T cells, on follicular dendritic cells or infected thymic epithelium might be involved in clonal suppression/anergy, which present major obstacles to the maintenance of HIV-1 specific responses and to the eventual eradication of HIV-1.

PRESENTING AUTHOR: FM Gotch

Download Presentation

010427
O32

Copyright © 2001 - British HIV Association (BHIVA) Reproduction of this abstract (other than one copy for personal reference) must be cleared through the BHIVA Organising Secretariat 1 Mountview Court, 310 Friern Barnet Lane, London N20 0LD