부산대학교 도서관

Objective: We monitored the recovery of immune responses to recall antigens in 35 HIV-infected patients receiving combination antiretroviral therapy (HAART). Methods: Patients infected with HIV either through drug injection (IDU) or by homosexual intercourse (HX), attending two Edinburgh clinics were studied. All had been on HAART for periods of between 6 months and 2 years and were receiving one or two nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitors plus combinations of protease inhibitors and/or non-nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitors. Sequential samples from each patient, stored in liquid nitrogen, were thawed and set up in proliferation assays with the following antigens: (i) environmental antigens: streptokinasestreptodornase (SK-SD); Candida albicans whole antigen (CA) and PPD from Mycobacterium avium complex (PPD-MAC) and (ii) antigens from opportunistic organisms: PPD from M. tuberculosis (PPD-TB) and tetanus toxoid C-fragment (TTC). Results: Partial recovery of lymphoproliferative responsiveness to environmental antigens was observed, in particular to Candida albicans, but negligible recovery of responsiveness to antigens from opportunistic organisms. Conclusions: Patients who respond to antiretroviral therapy recover their ability to respond to environmental organisms. Those with advanced disease at the start of antiretroviral therapy may have lost their immunological memory for opportunistic pathogens irretrievably. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]