Persistent high levels of immune activation and their correlation with the HIV-1 proviral DNA and 2-LTR circles loads, in a cohort of Mexican individuals following long-term and fully suppressive treatment

• Published in: International journal of infectious diseases 2020-11, Vol.100, p.184-192
• Main Authors: Orta-Resendiz, Aurelio, Viveros-Rogel, Monica, Fuentes-Romero, Luis L., Vergara-Mendoza, Moises, Romero-Rodriguez, Damaris P., Muñoz-Lopez, Monica, Zancatl-Diaz, Martha L., Vidal-Laurencio, Elsa Y., Rodriguez-Diaz, Roberto A., Soto-Ramirez, Luis E.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: 2-LTR circles; Adult; Anti-HIV Agents - therapeutic use; Antiretroviral Therapy, Highly Active; chronic cART; Cohort Studies; DNA, Viral - genetics; Female; HIV Infections - drug therapy; HIV Infections - immunology; HIV Infections - virology; HIV-1 - genetics; HIV-1 - immunology; HIV-1 - physiology; Humans; IL-7; Immune activation; Interleukin-7 - immunology; Lymphocyte Activation; Male; Middle Aged; Prospective Studies; proviral DNA; reservoir; Terminal Repeat Sequences - genetics; Viral Load; Virus Replication
• ISSN: 1201-9712; 1878-3511
• DOI: 10.1016/j.ijid.2020.08.044

•HIV-1 DNA and 2-LTR were not significantly correlated with CD38+ T-cells.•The HIV-1 proviral DNA correlates with the levels of pre-treatment viraemia.•CD4 + T-cell count recovered and CD8 + T-cells were maintained.•There was an increase of CD8+ CD38+ T-cells despite chronic suppressive cART.•The levels of plasmatic IL-7 decreased after one year. The aim of this study was to investigate the correlation between the HIV-1 reservoir and the levels of immune activation in chronic patients under fully suppressive cART. We quantified the HIV proviral DNA and 2-LTR circles loads from PBMCs, the levels of CD38+ and Ki-67+ T-cells, and the levels of IL-7 in a cohort of patients with more than 5 years of ART at enrollment and after 1 year. In 29 participants with a median of 8 years (IQR, 6.9-9.4) under suppressive cART we found higher levels of CD8+ CD38+ T-cells after 1-year (P = .000). There was a non-statistically significant poor correlation between the levels of immune activation and the proviral DNA of CD4+ and CD8+ T-cells. Ki-67+ T-cells declined without significant differences, and there was no significant correlation with the proportion of CD38+. IL-7 decreased at the follow-up observation (P = .094), but there was no correlation with the levels of CD38+ and Ki-67+ T-cells. We found a weak but non-statistically significant correlation of the levels of T-cell activation with the proviral DNA and 2-LTR circles. This suggests the likely occurrence of further mechanisms driving chronic versus early immune activation other than viral replication by itself in chronic patients.