The naive CD4+count in HIV-1-infected patients at time of initiation of highly active antiretroviral therapy is strongly associated with the level of immunological recovery

Current antiretroviral therapy can induce considerable, sustained viral suppression followed by immunological recovery, in which naive CD4+ cells are important. Long-term immunological recovery was investigated during the first 3 y of highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART) in 210 HIV-1-infected patients. The focus was on the naive CD4+ cell time course and associations between naive CD4+ cell counts and established prognostic markers. Total and naive CD4+ cell counts were measured using flow cytometry. The HIV-RNA detection limit was 20 copies/ml. During 36 months of HAART, the total CD4+ count followed a triphasic pattern, reflecting an initial phase of rapid redistribution from lymphoid tissues, followed by a slow increase, partially due to an increase in naive CD4+ cell count. From Month 18 onwards, both naive and total CD4+ cell counts stabilized, although viral suppression was sustained. There was no association between plasma viral load and the increase in naive CD4+ cell count. Importantly, baseline naive CD4+ cell count was significantly associated with the change in naive CD4+ cell count, suggesting that the naive cell count at baseline does influence the immunological recovery that can be obtained from treatment. Surprisingly, the naive CD4+ cell count tended to stabilize at a subnormal level after 18 months of HAART. This finding merits further investigation.