1. Evidence of Thymic Function in Heavily Antiretroviral-Treated Human Immunodeficiency Virus Type 1- Infected Adults with Long-Term Virologic Treatment Failure.
- Author
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Delgado, Juan, Leal, Manuel, Ruiz-Mateos, Ezequiel, Martínez-Moya, Manuel, Rubio, Amalia, Merchante, Elena, de la Rosa, Rafael, Sánchez-Quijano, Armando, and Lissen, Eduardo
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HIV infections , *THERAPEUTICS , *THYMIC hormones , *T cells - Abstract
Thymic function was evaluated in 32 heavily antiretroviral-treated human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1)-infected adults with long-term virologic treatment failure by measuring thymic volume, by determining the absolute number of naive T cell phenotypes, and by determining the number of cells carrying T cell receptor excision circles (TRECs). There was a significant inverse correlation between age and thymic volume (r = -0.415; P = .018), and there was a significant direct correlation between thymic volume and total naive T cell counts (r = 0.529; P = .002), naive CD4[sup +] cell counts (r = 0.437; P = .012), naive CD8[sup +] cell counts (r = 0.467; P = .007), and TREC levels (r = 0.391; P = .027). In conclusion, this study found clear evidence that the thymus of heavily antiretroviral-treated HIV-l-infected adults with long-term virologic treatment failure is actively engaged in thymopoiesis, which generates new naive T cells for the peripheral lymphocyte pool. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
- Published
- 2002
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