Authors: Tagarro A, Chan M, Zangari P, et al; on behalf of the EPIICAL Consortium
Published in: J Acquir Immune Defic Syndr. 2018;79(2):269-276
Background Future strategies aiming to achieve HIV-1 remission are likely to target individuals with small reservoir size.
Setting We retrospectively investigated factors associated with HIV-1 DNA levels in European, perinatally HIV-infected children starting ART <6 months of age.
Methods Total HIV-1 DNA was measured from 51 long-term suppressed children 6.3 years (median) after initial viral suppression. Factors associated with log10 total HIV-1 DNA were analyzed using linear regression.
Results At ART initiation, children were aged median [IQR] 2.3 [1.2,4.1] months, CD4% 37 [24,45] %, CD8% 28 [18,36] %, log10 plasma viral load (VL) 5.4 [4.4,5.9] copies/ml. Time to viral suppression was 7.98 [4.6,19.3] months. Following suppression, 13 (25%) children had suboptimal response [≥2 consecutive VL50-400 followed by VL<50] and/or experienced periods of virological failure [≥2 consecutive VL≥400 followed by VL<50]. Median total HIV-1 DNA was 43 [6,195] copies/106 PBMC. Younger age at therapy initiation was associated with lower total HIV-1 DNA (adjusted coefficient [AC] 0.12 per month older, p=0.0091), with a month increase in age at ART start being associated with a 13% increase in HIV DNA. Similarly, a higher proportion of time spent virally suppressed (AC 0.10 per 10% higher, p=0.0022) and absence of viral failure/suboptimal response (AC 0.34 for those with fail/ suboptimal response, p=0.0483) were associated with lower total HIV-1 DNA.
Conclusion Early ART initiation and a higher proportion of time suppressed are linked with lower total HIV-1 DNA. Early ART start and improving adherence in perinatally HIV-1 infected children minimize the size of viral reservoir.