CD4/CD8 ratio normalization rates and low ratio as prognostic marker for non-AIDS defining events among long-term virologically suppressed people living with HIV

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BACKGROUND: Immune restoration is often incomplete after ART in HIV patients, both quantitatively and qualitatively. We studied the incidence and probability of CD4/CD8 normalization in an adult Thai HIV cohort and explored the predictive value of the ratio for developing of non-AIDS defining events (NAEs). METHODS: We analyzed data from HIV-infected Thai adults between 1996 and 2017 in the HIV-NAT 006 prospective long-term cohort in Bangkok, Thailand. Normalization was defined as CD4/CD8 ratio ≥ 1 on two consecutive visits, and normalization probability was calculated using the Kaplan-Meier method. NAEs were a composite endpoint including cardiovascular or cerebrovascular diseases, chronic kidney diseases, non-AIDS defining malignancies and death. Multivariate Cox regression was used to evaluate demographic, disease and treatment characteristics associated with CD4/CD8 ratio normalization and NAEs. RESULTS: as reference. The second analysis explored the predictive value of CD4/CD8 ratio for NAEs. Older age (HR: 1.09, 95% CI 1.05-1.13, p < 0.01) and current CD4/CD8 ratio < 0.3 (HR: 3.02, 95% CI 1.27-7.21, p = 0.01) or between 0.3 and 0.45 (HR: 2.03, 95% CI 1.03-3.98, p = 0.04) vs. > 0.45 were independently associated with higher risk of progression to NAEs in the multivariate analysis. CONCLUSIONS: Our findings showed that complete immune recovery is uncommon in an Asian setting and earlier ART initiation at higher CD4 counts may have increased the ratio sooner. The findings demonstrate the use of CD4/CD8 ratio as a prognostic marker for clinical progression of NAEs. Trial registration HIV-NAT 006 cohort, clinical trial number: NCT00411983.