Background: Highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART) in HIV/AIDS infection induces an important reduction of the viral load (VL) and an immune system reconstitution. CD4+ T lymphocyte count is the immunological measurement commonly used for the follow up of HIV/AIDS patients.
Aim: To study prospectively the restoration of the innate immune system in patients with HIV/AIDS infection during their first year on HAART.
Patients and methods: 25 naive HIV/AIDS patients, from San José Hospital and University of Chile Clinical Hospital, Santiago, Chile, were studied between years 2002-2003. Every 4 months after HAART initiation, CD3+, CD4+, CD8+ T lymphocytes and CD16/56+ natural killer (NK) cells were quantified by flow cytometry. NK cell cytotoxicity was measured using radioactive chrome liberation (Cr51). Tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-alpha) and interleukin-10 (IL-10) were measured in peripheral blood mononuclear cells and viral load was determined using Amplicor HIV-1 from Roche Diagnostics Systems.
Results: Thirteen of the 25 patients continued in the study. They were all males, average age 35 years old (23-50). At baseline average CD4+ count was 146 cells/microL (31-362) and average viral load was 82.000 copies/mL (4.000-290.000). A raise in CD3+, CD4+, CD8+, and CD16/56 cells was noted at months 9-12 of therapy. Viral load became undetectable in the same period. NK cell function was decreased at the beginning of the therapy (1-4 months), reaching its highest values at months 9-12. There was no significant change in IL-10. TNF-alpha increased in six patients during the study.
Conclusions: In this group of patients, innate immunity was restored during HAART. These results should be confirmed in studies with a longer follow up period and also measuring cytokines such as MIP-1a, MIP-1ss and RANTES.