Persistent immune activation in chronic HIV infection

The availability of combination antiretroviral therapy (cART) has led to substantial reduction in morbidity and mortality in HIV-infected patients; however, life expectancy remains reduced especially in HIV-infected patients who initiate cART with CD4 T-cell counts less than 200 cells/μl [1]. Increased immune activation in patients on long-term suppressive cART [2–4] has been associated with increased mortality [5,6] and both AIDS and non-AIDS-defining illnesses [7–10], suggesting that chronic immune activation may have a potential role in driving increased morbidity and mortality.