A Subset of Extreme Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) Controllers Is Characterized by a Small HIV Blood Reservoir and a Weak T-Cell Activation Level

Etienne Canouï (1, 2, 3) , Camille Lécuroux (1, 3) , Véronique Avettand-Fenoel (4, 5) , Marine Gousset (4, 5) , Christine Rouzioux (5, 4) , Asier Saez-Cirion (6) , Laurence Meyer (7, 8) , Faroudy Boufassa (7) , Olivier Lambotte (1, 2, 3) , Nicolas Noël (1, 2, 3) , Anrs Co21 Codex Study Group

1 IMVA - U1184 - Immunologie des Maladies Virales et Autoimmunes
2 Hôpital Bicêtre
3 IMETI - Institut des Maladies Emergentes et des Thérapies Innovantes
4 EA 7327 - Infection à VIH, réservoirs, diversité génétique et résistance aux antirétroviraux (ARV)
5 Laboratoire de Virologie [CHU Necker]
6 HIV, Inflammation et persistance - HIV, Inflammation and Persistence
7 CESP - Centre de recherche en épidémiologie et santé des populations
8 Service de santé publique et d'épidémiologie

BACKGROUND: Human immunodeficiency virus controllers (HICs) form a heterogeneous group of patients with regard to formal definitions, immunologic characteristics, and changes over time in viral load. PATIENTS AND METHODS: The HICs with undetectable viral load ([uHICs] ie, for whom a viral load had never been detected with routine assays; n = 52) were compared with 178 HICs with blips during the follow up (bHICs). Clinical characteristics, ultrasensitive HIV-ribonucleic acid (RNA) and HIV-deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) loads, HIV1-Western blot profiles, and immune parameters were analyzed. RESULTS: Relative to bHICs, uHICs had significantly lower ultrasensitive plasma HIV-RNA loads (P < .0001) and HIV-DNA levels in peripheral blood mononuclear cells (P = .0004), higher CD4+ T-cell count (P = .04) at enrollment, and lower T-cell activation levels. Between diagnosis and inclusion in the cohort, the CD4+ T-cell count had not changed in uHICs but had significantly decreased in bHICs. Twenty-one percent of the uHICs lacked specific anti-HIV immunoglobulin G antibodies, and these individuals also had very low levels of HIV-DNA. Half of the uHICs had a protective human leukocyte antigen (HLA) allele (-B57/58/B27), a weak CD8+ T-cell response, and very small HIV-DNA reservoir. CONCLUSIONS: We suggest that an interesting HIC phenotype combines protective HLA alleles, low level of HIV blood reservoirs, and reduced immune activation. Prospective studies aimed at evaluating the benefit of combined antiretroviral therapy in HICs might take into account the identification of uHICs and bHICs.

Mots clés: immune activation; HIV controllers; HIV-DNA in PBMC; HLA; ultrasensitive plasma HIV-RNA load.

Domaines: Sciences du Vivant [q-bio]; Immunologie; Médecine humaine et pathologie; Maladies infectieuses

Etienne Canouï, Camille Lécuroux, Véronique Avettand-Fenoel, Marine Gousset, Christine Rouzioux, et al.. A Subset of Extreme Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) Controllers Is Characterized by a Small HIV Blood Reservoir and a Weak T-Cell Activation Level. Open Forum Infectious Diseases, 2017, 4 (2), pp.ofx064. ⟨10.1093/ofid/ofx064⟩. ⟨pasteur-02549908⟩