Early Antiretroviral Therapy During Primary HIV-1 Infection Results in a Transient Reduction of the Viral Setpoint upon Treatment Interruption

Long-term benefits of combination antiretroviral therapy (cART) initiation during primary HIV-1 infection are debated.The evolution of plasma HIV-RNA (432 measurements) and cell-associated HIV-DNA (325 measurements) after cessation of cART (median exposure 18 months) was described for 33 participants from the Zurich Primary HIV Infection Study using linear regression and compared with 545 measurements from 79 untreated controls with clinically diagnosed primary HIV infection, respectively a known date for seroconversion. copies [2.5; 3.1]).The rebound dynamics of viral markers after therapy cessation suggest that early cART may indeed limit reservoir size of latently infected cells, but that much of the initial benefits are only transient. Owing to the non-randomized study design the observed treatment effects must be interpreted with caution