Immune recovery and T cell subset analysis during effective treatment with maraviroc

Patients treated with maraviroc frequently show high CD4 T cell increases. The aim of this study was to detail the characteristics of maraviroc-induced immune recovery. We studied T cell subsets from frozen peripheral blood mononuclear cells of patients treated with raltegravir, etravirine and either maraviroc (REM, n24) or darunavir/ritonavir (RED, n17). The two groups showed a similar decrease in activated CD4 and CD8 T cells. A greater loss of naive CD4 T cells and a reduction in cells expressing CXCR4 were observed in REM patients, while RED patients showed a greater loss of cells expressing CCR5. Our findings do not support a role for reduction in activated T cell subsets to explain the greater maraviroc-induced immune recovery. Reduction in CXCR4CD4 and higher expression of CCR5CD4 T cells might represent a potential protection from non-R5 tropic viral strain overgrowth.