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Naïve T cells are maintained in the periphery during the first 3 months of acute HIV-1 infection
Implications for analysis of thymus function
Sempowski, G. D., Hicks, C. B., Eron, J. J., Bartlett, J. A., Hale, L. P., Ferrari, G., Edwards, L. J., Fiscus, S., & Haynes, B. F. (2005). Naïve T cells are maintained in the periphery during the first 3 months of acute HIV-1 infection: Implications for analysis of thymus function. Journal of Clinical Immunology, 25(5), 462-472. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10875-005-5635-4
A key determinant of T cell dynamics in HIV-1 infection is the status of thymic function. To date, most studies of the impact of HIV-1 on the thymus during early HIV-1 infection have been done in samples collected in the interval of 3-12 months after infection. In this study, we have probed the status of thymic function and peripheral naive T cells in patients with acute HIV-1 infection diagnosed 18-72 days after the onset of symptoms. We found that peripheral CD4 and CD8 T cell proliferation was initially elevated, then waned over time. The fall in T cell proliferation correlated with a reduction in HIV-1 viral RNA levels and a rise in peripheral blood CD4+ CD25+ T cells. In spite of elevated T cell proliferation early on in primary HIV-1 infection, levels of naive phenotype CD4 and CD8 T cells and T cell receptor excision circle positive cells (sjTREC(+)) remained constant. Taken together with the observation that T cell proliferation normally dilutes peripheral T cell episomal sjTREC levels, these data suggested that thymopoiesis contributes to maintenance of the naive T cell pool during the earliest stages of HIV-1 infection (18-72 days).
