Immunological and virological effects of long term IL-2 therapy in HIV-1-infected patients

AIDS. 2001 Sep 7;15(13):1729-31. doi: 10.1097/00002030-200109070-00018.

Abstract

We report the long-term outcome of 27 HIV-infected patients treated for over 3 years with IL-2 and binucleoside analogues. These patients experienced a sustained increase in CD4 cells and a decrease of proviral DNA with infrequent IL-2 cycles. In three cases, virus could not be isolated from activated peripheral cells. A high frequency of HIV-1-specific memory CD4 T cells was found in the patients studied. IL-2 maintains specific effector cells and reduces the pool of infected cells in patients, albeit treated only with binucleosides.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Anti-HIV Agents / therapeutic use*
  • CD4 Lymphocyte Count
  • CD4-Positive T-Lymphocytes / immunology
  • DNA, Viral / blood
  • Didanosine / therapeutic use
  • Drug Therapy, Combination
  • HIV Infections / drug therapy*
  • HIV Infections / immunology
  • HIV Infections / virology
  • HIV-1 / physiology*
  • Humans
  • Immunologic Memory
  • Interleukin-2 / therapeutic use*
  • Reverse Transcriptase Inhibitors / therapeutic use
  • Time Factors
  • Zidovudine / therapeutic use

Substances

  • Anti-HIV Agents
  • DNA, Viral
  • Interleukin-2
  • Reverse Transcriptase Inhibitors
  • Zidovudine
  • Didanosine