AUTHOR=Grützner Eva M. , Hoffmann Tanja , Wolf Eva , Gersbacher Elke , Neizert Ashley , Stirner Renate , Pauli Ramona , Ulmer Albrecht , Brust Jürgen , Bogner Johannes R. , Jaeger Hans , Draenert Rika TITLE=Treatment Intensification in HIV-Infected Patients Is Associated With Reduced Frequencies of Regulatory T Cells JOURNAL=Frontiers in Immunology VOLUME=9 YEAR=2018 URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/immunology/articles/10.3389/fimmu.2018.00811 DOI=10.3389/fimmu.2018.00811 ISSN=1664-3224 ABSTRACT=
In untreated HIV infection, the efficacy of T cell responses decreases over the disease course, resulting in disease progression. The reasons for this development are not completely understood. However, immunosuppressive cells are supposedly crucially involved. Treatment strategies to avoid the induction of these cells preserve immune functions and are therefore the object of intense research efforts. In this study, we assessed the effect of treatment intensification [=5-drug antiretroviral therapy (ART)] on the development of suppressive cell subsets. The New Era (NE) study recruited patients with primary HIV infection (PHI) or chronically HIV-infected patients with conventional ART (CHI) and applied an intensified 5-drug regimen containing maraviroc and raltegravir for several years. We compared the frequencies of the immune suppressive cells, namely, the myeloid-derived suppressor cells (MDSCs), regulatory B cells (Bregs), and regulatory T cells (Tregs), of the treatment intensification patients to the control groups, especially to the patients with conventional 3-drug ART, and analyzed the Gag/Nef-specific CD8 T cell responses. There were no differences between PHI and CHI in the NE population (