| Abstract: | HIV-mediated immune dysfunction may influence CD4+ T cell recovery during suppressive antiretroviral therapy (ART). We analyzed cellular biomarkers of immunological inflammation, maturation, and senescence in HIV-infected subjects on early suppressive ART. We performed longitudinal analyses of peripheral immunological biomarkers of subjects on suppressive ART (n = 24) from early treatment (median 6.4 months, interquartile range [IQR] 4.8–13.9 months) to 1–2 years of follow-up (median 19.8 months, IQR 18.3–24.6 months). We performed multivariate regression to determine which biomarkers were associated with and/or predictive of CD4+ T cell recovery. After adjusting for the pre-ART CD4+ T cell count, age, proximal CD4+ T cell count, and length of ART medication, the percentage of CD27+CD8+ T cells remained significantly associated with the CD4+ T cell recovery rate (β = 0.092 cells/ul/month, P = 0.028). In HIV-infected subjects starting suppressive ART, patients with the highest percentage of CD8+ T cells expressing CD27 had the greatest rate of CD4+ T cell recovery. |
