Nonprogressing HIV-Infected Children Share Fundamental Immunological Features of Nonpathogenic SIV Infection

Abstract

M Muenchhoff, E Adland, O Karimanzira. Sci Transl Med. 2016;8(358):358ra125 HIV-infected, nonprogressing adults appear to control viremia with effective adaptive immune responses. In contrast, the natural primate hosts of simian immunodeficiency viruses (SIVs), such as sooty mangabeys, remain disease-free despite ongoing viral replication. The purpose of this study was to examine the immunologic features and the degree of immune activation in nonprogressing, HIV-infected children (pediatric nonprogressors [PNPs]). 170 HIV-infected children >5 years of age who met the following criteria were studied: antiretroviral (ART) naive, maintaining normal-for-age CD4+ T-cell counts, and clinically nonprogressing. At the time of enrollment, ART was limited to patients whose CD4+ T-cells declined to a specified threshold that the …