Author/Editor		Židovec-Lepej, Snježana; Kosor, Ela; Gagro, Alenka; Vince, Adriana; Remenar, Anica; Poljak, Mario
Title		Persistant immunodominant anti-gag SLYNTVATL responses in HIV-patients with up to 7 years of HAART
Type		članek
Source		Coll Antropol
Vol. and No.		Letnik 30, št. Suppl 2
Publication year		2006
Volume		str. 33-8
Language		eng
Abstract		We analyzed Gag-specific CD8+ T-cells in HIV-patients on long-term HAART and in untreated chronically-infected patients by using iTAg MHC class I tetramers (HLA-A*0201) specific for SLYNTVATL. Gag SLYNTVATL-specific CD8+ T-cells were detectable in 18 of 26 treated patients (median 5.2 years of HAART) and in 10 of 14 untreated patients. Median percentage of Gag SLYNTVATL-specific CD8+ T-cells in treated patients was 0.10 (range 0.00-0.70%). Median number of Gag SLYNTVATL-specific CD8+ T-cells per 50,000 CD8+ T-cells was 56.0 cells (range 2.0-344.0 cells) and was not significantly different compared with untreated patients (p = 0.978). Numbers of Gag SLYNTVATL-specific CD8+ T-cells were inversely correlated with the duration of undetectable plasma viremia (p = 0.02, Rho = -0.430). Chronically-infected HIV-patients on HAART (for up to 7.7 years) maintained a stable subpopulation of Gag SLYNTVATL-specific CD8+ T-cells. This finding is relevant for the analysis of treatment-induced immune reconstitution and, possibly, for future therapeutic strategies in HIV-disease.
Descriptors		HIV INFECTIONS HIV-1 HLA-A ANTIGENS CD8-POSITIVE T-LYMPHOCYTES CD4 LYMPHOCYTE COUNT CD4-CD8 RATIO FLOW CYTOMETRY