HIV infected CD4+ T cell clones are more stable than uninfected clones during long-term antiretroviral therapy.

PLoS pathogens 2022 Aug

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Although combination antiretroviral therapy (ART) blocks HIV replication, it is not curative because infected CD4+ T cells that carry intact, infectious proviruses persist. Understanding the behavior of clones of infected T cells is important for understanding the stability of the reservoir; however, the stabilities of clones of infected T cells in persons on long-term ART are not well defined. We determined the relative stabilities of clones of infected and uninfected CD4+ T cells over time intervals of one to four years in three individuals who had been on ART for 9-19 years. The largest clones of uninfected T cells were larger than the largest clones of infected T cells. Clones of infected CD4+ T cells were more stable than clones of uninfected CD4+ T cells of a similar size. Individual clones of CD4+ T cells carrying intact, infectious proviruses can expand, contract, or remain stable over time.

Citation

Shuang Guo, Brian T Luke, Amy R Henry, Samuel Darko, Leah D Brandt, Ling Su, David Sun, Daria Wells, Kevin W Joseph, Dimiter Demirov, Elias K Halvas, Daniel C Douek, Xiaolin Wu, John W Mellors, Stephen H Hughes. HIV infected CD4+ T cell clones are more stable than uninfected clones during long-term antiretroviral therapy. PLoS pathogens. 2022 Aug;18(8):e1010726