HIV type 1 (HIV-1) proviral reservoirs decay continuously under sustained virologic control in HIV-1-infected children who received early treatment.

BACKGROUND: Early initiation of combination antiretroviral therapy (cART) to human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1)-infected infants controls HIV-1 replication and reduces mortality. METHODS: Plasma viremia (lower limit of detection, <2 copies/mL), T-cell activation, HIV-1-specific immune responses, and the persistence of cells carrying replication-competent virus were quantified during long-term effective combination antiretroviral therapy (cART) in 4 perinatally HIV-1-infected youth who received treatment early (the ET group) and 4 who received treatment late (the LT group). Decay in peripheral blood mononuclear cell (PBMC) proviral DNA levels was also measured over time in the ET youth. RESULTS: Plasma viremia was not detected in any ET youth but was detected in all LT youth (median, 8 copies/mL; P = .03). PBMC proviral load was significantly lower in ET youth (median, 7 copies per million PBMCs) than in LT youth (median, 181 copies; P = .03). Replication-competent virus was recovered from all LT youth but only 1 ET youth. Decay in proviral DNA was noted in all 4 ET youth in association with limited T-cell activation and with absent to minimal HIV-1-specific immune responses. CONCLUSIONS: Initiation of early effective cART during infancy significantly limits circulating levels of proviral and replication-competent HIV-1 and promotes continuous decay of viral reservoirs. Continued cART with reduction in HIV-1 reservoirs over time may facilitate HIV-1 eradication strategies.

HIV-1 drug resistance genotypic profiles in children with undetectable plasma viremia during antiretroviral therapy

Treatment of HIV-1 infection with highly active antiretroviral therapy has led to sustained viral suppression in the plasma in a large number of children. However, studies have suggested that the integrated provirus in resting CD4+ T lymphocytes could be a source of reactivatable virus and maintain drug-resistant virus. We evaluated the resistance-related mutations in children receiving antiretroviral therapy with prolonged viral suppression. Thirty-two peripheral blood mononuclear cell samples from 16 children with viral loads that had been below detection limits for at least 12 months were obtained at two different time points and the DNAs sequenced. The median CD4 cell count was 1,016 cells/mm³ (347-2,588) and 938 cells/mm³ (440-3,038) at the first and second time points, respectively. The median follow-up time was 15 months (9-27). Six (37.5 percent) and seven (43.75 percent) of the 16 patients showed at least one NRTI-associated mutation in the first and second samples, respectively. Two out of 16 (12.5 percent) had an NNRTI-associated mutation at the first time point and three out of 16 (18.75 percent) at the second. In addition, 14 out of 16 (87.5 percent) had at least one PI-associated mutation at both time points. Despite plasma HIV-1 RNA suppression for at least 12 months, resistance-related mutations from previous antiretroviral failures could still be detected in archival virus. Furthermore, viral evolution occurred at the reverse transcriptase region in spite of viral suppression to levels below 400 copies/mL. Persistence of archival resistant virus may be relevant when considering future treatment options.