Changes in the Regulatory T-Lymphocyte Counts in HIV-Infected Patients with a Discordant Response to Antiretroviral Therapy

Abstract

We examined HIV-infected patients with different efficacies of immune system restoration during antiretroviral therapy. The study showed that against the background of low CD4+ T cell counts, subjects with a discordant immunologic response (patients with <350 CD4⁺ T cells per μL of blood after more than two years of treatment) develop a regulatory CD4⁺ T cell (T_reg) deficiency. Furthermore, in these patients, the immunodeficiency is accompanied by an increase in the T_reg frequency. Accumulation of regulatory T lymphocytes in the blood of HIV‑infected subjects with discordant response to the treatment indicates a high viability of this T cell subset.