Phenotype and functionality of CD8+ T-cells before and after cART are related to the viral reservoir size in HIV infected subjects.

JIMENA SALIDO; HORACIO SALOMÓN; NATALIA LAUFER; ALEJANDRO CZERNIKIER; MARÍA INES FIGUEROA; OMAR SUED; GABRIELA TURK; CÉSAR TRIFONE; PEDRO CAHN; YANINA GHIGLIONE

Ciudad de Mexico

Conferencia; Conferencia de la Sociedad International de SIDA (IAS 2019); 2019

International AIDS Societty

Background: The persistence of latently infected T-cells remains the major obstacle to cure HIV. Special emphasis has been placed to identify the characteristics of CD8+ T-cells (CD8TCs) associated with viral control. We aimed to determine the relationship between the quality of the immune response before and after antiretroviral treatment (cART) and HIV persistence on cART.Methods: 18 subjects were enrolled during acute/early HIV infection (median 2 month post-infection). Blood samples were obtained at enrollment (baseline sample, pre-cART) and after 18 months post-ART (on-cART). Phenotypic (CD45RO, CCR7, CD95, PD-1) and functional (CD107, cytokines) markers were studied on bulk and HIV-specific CD8TCs by flow cytometry, in both samples. Cell-associated HIV DNA forms (total and integrated) were quantitated by real-time PCR in samples on-cART. Data was analyzed using non-parametric statistics.Results: Spearman?s correlations showed that higher HIV-integrated DNA levels on samples on-cART were related to lower expression of baseline CD107+ CD8TCs and lower proportion of HIV-specific terminal effector (TE) CD8TCs (p=0,003 and p=0,049). Moreover, total HIV DNA levels post-cART directly correlated with baseline HIV-specific PD-1+CD8TCs.HIV-integrated DNA levels positively correlated with the percentage of PD-1+CD8TCs (p