Breadth and polyfunctionality of T cell responses to human cytomegalovirus in men who have sex with men: relationship with HIV infection and frailty.

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T cell responses to chronic cytomegalovirus (CMV) infection have significant biological and clinical implications in HIV infection and aging. Here, we systematically analyzed the breadth, magnitude, and polyfunctionality of T cell responses to multiple CMV antigens in men with and without HIV in the Multicenter AIDS Cohort Study (MACS), a longstanding study of the natural and treated history of HIV-1 infection in men who have sex with men. We found that the breadth and polyfunctionality of T cell responses to CMV were different between men with chronic, treated HIV and those without HIV. The reason for these differences is unknown, but these findings suggest that people with treated HIV may have more frequent CMV reactivation than people without HIV. Differences between people with and without HIV also resembled differences reported between young and older adults without HIV, supporting a role for the immune responses to CMV in the aging process.