CD4+ (A) and CD8+ (B) Tscm frequencies and their correlation with maturation subsets in HIV-uninfected (C-F) and HIV-infected infected subjects prior to (T0; G-J) and following cART (T12; K-N).

A significant reduction of the CD4+ Tscm pool and no changes in the CD8+ Tscm subset was measured in the course of the study and both maintained lower frequencies compared to controls. In HIV-negative individuals, Tscm cells correlated negatively with naïve and positively with effector memory subsets. This relationship lacked in HIV-infected, untreated individuals and was partially restored in the course of cART. Data are presented as median, interquartile range (IQR) for continuous variables. Changes in study parameters over time in HIV-infected subjects introducing cART were measured by Wilcoxon signed rank test; comparisons between HIV-infected and uninfected individuals were assessed by Mann-Whitney test. Tscm, T stem cell memory cells. Correlations were analyzed by Spearman’s Correlation test.