HIV infection-related premature immunosenescence: High rates of immune exhaustion after short time of infection

Premature immunosenescence has been reported in different HIV scenarios. However, how premature is the HIV-related immunosenescent phenotype is still unknown. Thus, the aim of this study was to analyze the immunosenescent status of young viraemic naive HIV-infected individuals, with less than four years from infection. To this end, replicative senescence, activation and proliferation T-cell levels were analyzed in chronically HIV-infected young individuals and both, elderly and young healthy controls. We show that young HIV-infected viraemic patients, with less than four years from infection, have early immune exhaustion leading to a premature immunosenescence comparable to healthy people 40 years elder. In addition, memory T-cell subsets showed greater alterations than elder healthy controls and, in patients with high viral loads, CD57 expression at the memory T-cell subsets was correlated with lower viral increases but higher CD4 T-cell lost during follow up. © 2011 Bentham Science Publishers.Peer Reviewe