Improvement in Cell-Mediated Immune Function during Potent Anti-Human Immunodeficiency Virus Therapy with Ritonavir plus Saquinavir

Inhibiting human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) replication with potent antiretroviral therapy may result in improved immune function, and this may lead to favorable outcomes, independent of changes in CD4+ lymphocyte count. The effect of combination protease inhibitor therapy (ritonavir plus saquinavir) on functional measures of cell-mediated immunity in 41 HIV-infected patients from one center of a multicenter trial was investigated. After 24 weeks, median plasma virus load decreased from 4.74 log10 copies/mL to below the detection limit of the assay (2.30 log10), and mean CD4+ lymphocyte count increased from 284 cells/microL to 413 cells/microL. Proliferative responses to phytohemagglutinin developed in 21 of 34 patients in whom responses were absent at baseline. Increases were observed in interleukin-2, -12, and -10 production and in the expression of CD28 on CD8+ lymphocytes. Initiation of potent anti-HIV therapy results in a degree of immune restoration, suggesting that HIV-induced immune suppression is a dynamic and potentially reversible process.