T-cell mean telomere lengths changes in treatment naive HIV-infected patients randomized to G-CSF or placebo simultaneously with initiation of HAART

The effect of highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART) and granulocyte colony stimulating factor (G-CSF) on mean telomere restriction fragment (TRF) length of peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) was examined in I I treatment naive human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-infected individuals with a CD4(+) T-cell count < 350cells/mm(3). Patients were randomized to HAART combined with G-CSF thrice weekly for 12 weeks (n = 6) or placebo (n = 5). An increase in the mean TRF lengths was observed in PBMC of patients on HAART after 24 weeks of treatment mainly owing to increased mean CD8(+) T-cell TRF lengths. However, in the group of patients on HAART combined with G-CSF no changes of PBMC mean TRF length was observed during treatment or during 12 weeks of follow-up. The mean CD4(+) T-cell TRF length did not change in any of the two groups. These results confirm that HAART induces mainly the lengthening of the mean CD8(+) T-cell TRF length. However, G-CSF given simultaneously with HAART induces an inhibition of the expected lengthening in mean TRF length. These results do therefore not support the use of adjuvant G-CSF treatment simultaneously when initiating HAART and should further be evaluated before use in non-neutropenic HIV-infected patients.