Journal
BLOOD
Volume 116, Issue 25, Pages 5571-5579Publisher
AMER SOC HEMATOLOGY
DOI: 10.1182/blood-2010-05-285528
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Funding
- NIAID, NIH
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Characterization of lymphocytes including B cells during early versus chronic HIV infection is important for understanding the impact of chronic viremia on immune cell function. In this setting, we investigated B cells before and after reduction of HIV plasma viremia by antiretroviral therapy (ART). At baseline, peripheral blood B-cell counts were significantly lower in both early and chronic HIV-infected individuals compared with uninfected controls. Similar to CD4(+) but not CD8(+) T cells, B-cell numbers in both groups increased significantly after ART. At baseline, B cells of early HIV-infected individuals were composed of a higher percentage of plasmablasts and resting memory B cells compared with chronic HIV-infected individuals whose B cells were composed of a higher percentage of immature/transitional and exhausted B cells compared with their early infection counterparts. At 1 year after ART, the percentage of resting memory B cells remained higher in early compared with chronic HIV-infected individuals. This difference translated into a better functional profile in that memory B-cell responses to HIV and non-HIV antigens were superior in early-compared with chronic-treated HIV infected individuals. These findings provide new insights on B cells in HIV infection and how early initiation of ART may prevent irreversible immune system damage. (Blood. 2010; 116(25): 5571-5579)
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