Longitudinal Changes in CD4 + T Cell Antigen Receptor Diversity and Naive/Memory Cell Phenotype during 9 to 26 Months of Antiretroviral Therapy of HIV-Infected Patients

Although skewing of the CD4+ TCR repertoire in advanced HIV infection is well documented, increases in polyclonality during antiretroviral therapy have been less consistently observed. Ten patients, each with documented abnormalities within the CD4+ TCR repertoire, were studied by CDR3 spectratyping, semiquantitative PCR, and SSCP during 9-26 months of therapy. Naive and memory cell phenotypes were analyzed by flow cytometry. Six of 10 patients showed increased polyclonality of their TCR repertoires, 1 showed no change, and 3 showed increased TCR skewing, despite suppressed viral replication. Overall, there was no significant change in the percentage of abnormal BV subfamilies (from a mean of 25.5 to 17.1%) or the percentage of naive CD4+ T cells (from a mean of 18 to 25%). Further, progression of TCR repertoire disruptions was observed in some patients even with suppression of plasma viral RNA below 500 copies/ml. Although a spectrum of changes may be seen within the CD4+ TCR repertoire in the setting of antiretroviral therapy, increases in polyclonality are observed in some patients.