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Effect of interleukin-2 on the pool of latently infected, resting CD4+ T cells in HIV-1-infected patients receiving highly active anti-retroviral therapy

Nature Medicine volume 5, pages 651–655 (1999)Cite this article

Abstract

The size of the pool of resting CD4+ T cells containing replication-competent HIV in the blood of patients receiving intermittent interleukin (IL)-2 plus highly active anti-retroviral therapy (HAART) was significantly lower than that of patients receiving HAART alone. Virus could not be isolated from the peripheral blood CD4+ T cells in three patients receiving IL-2 plus HAART, despite the fact that large numbers of resting CD4+ T cells were cultured. Lymph node biopsies were done in two of these three patients and virus could not be isolated. These results indicate that the intermittent administration of IL-2 with continuous HAART may lead to a substantial reduction in the pool of resting CD4+ T cells that contain replication-competent HIV.

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Figure 1: Frequency of resting CD4+ T cells containing replication-competent HIV-1.

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Acknowledgements

We thank B. Baird, L. Ehler, S. Liu, C. Perry and S.Vogel for scheduling patient visits and for providing patient laboratory data. We thank M. Ostrowski for discussions and review of the manuscript. We also thank the NIAID study coordinators and case managers as well as our patients for their willingness to participate in these studies.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Laboratory of Immunoregulation, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, 20892, Maryland, USA

    Tae-Wook Chun, Delphine Engel, Stephanie B. Mizell, Claire W. Hallahan, Richard T. Davey Jr., Mark Dybul, Joseph A. Kovacs, Julia A. Metcalf, JoAnn M. Mican, H. Clifford Lane & Anthony S. Fauci

  2. Laboratory of Pathology, National Cancer Institute, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, 20892, Maryland, USA

    Maria Fischette

  3. Division of Biometry, Department of Preventive Medicine University of Southern California School of Medicine, Los Angeles , 90033, California, USA

    Sohee Park

  4. Department of Medicine and Laboratory Medicine, University of Washington and Program in Infectious Diseases, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, Seattle, 98104, Washington, USA

    M. Michelle Berrey & Lawrence Corey

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  1. Tae-Wook Chun
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Correspondence to Tae-Wook Chun.

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Chun, TW., Engel, D., Mizell, S. et al. Effect of interleukin-2 on the pool of latently infected, resting CD4+ T cells in HIV-1-infected patients receiving highly active anti-retroviral therapy. Nat Med 5, 651–655 (1999). https://doi.org/10.1038/9498

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