Zed by cytotoxic features, including the expression of CD107a [21,40]. The

Zed by cytotoxic features, including the expression of CD107a [21,40]. The efficacy of anti-HIV specific response has been linked to the “polyfunctionality” of specific clones, i.e. to those cells able to exert simultaneously multiple effectors functions. However, in the first months after PHI, we could not find truly polyfunctional CD4+ and CD8+ T cells, i.e. those performing 4 functions: indeed, we could not detect significant amounts of cells able 18325633 to produce IL-2.The influence and role of Treg during HIV infection remain unclear. Discrepant results have been reported, likely depending on the patient populations, the type and length of treatment, patient’s 12926553 age, the time points analyzed, and the way Tregs were characterized [41,42,43]. Most studies showed that during HIV infection Treg increase in frequency but decrease in SIS3 site absolute number, either in blood or in other compartments, likely because of an increased generation, survival or proliferation in the periphery, or because of a different redistribution among tissues [reviewed in 44]. The role played by Tregs during HIV infection is still poorly understood, as two opposing hypotheses have been proposed. A detrimental role of Tregs during HIV infection was suggested based on the evidence that Tregs suppress virus-specific immune responses. Conversely, Tregs could be beneficial by limiting immune activation, thus controlling the availability of HIV targets as well as preventing immune-based pathologies. Recently, it has been shown that untreated, chronically infected patients can display a 2-fold increase in the frequency of Tregs [26]. On the contrary, HIV+ patients defined “elite long-term ?Biomarkers of HIV 125-65-5 site Control after PHIFigure 10. Kaplan-Meier survival curves related to the free-oftherapy period. The survival analysis was performed considering the time elapsed from PHI to the occurrence of failure, defined as the start of antiretroviral therapy. Upper pane, all patients; lower panels, patients with different degree of CD8+ T cell activation. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0050728.gfrequency and number of Tregs were not correlated to the control of the immune activation, to the disease progression, nor to viroimmunological parameters. Thus, it might be hypothesized that the time required by the virus (or by the inadequate response to the virus) to provoke functional or phenotypic Treg alterations is longer than that we have considered in our study. Finally, we found high levels of activation in the first two months after primary infection, that decreased over time. Immune activation is a well known important and predictive marker in patients with chronic infection [46], being related to several phenomena, including loss of CD4+ T cells in the gastrointestinal tract and the consequent microbial translocation [47,48]. We are aware that our study has some limitations, the first of which is the limited number of patients followed for a relatively short time. However, it has to be noted that the enrolment of patients with acute HIV infection is quite difficult, and we could only observe a few cases per year. A second limitation of the study is that the percentage of peripheral blood lymphocytes responding to specific HIV peptides were quite low, and that in some cases the individual variability was quite high. These phenomena, along with the number of patients, were likely responsible for the lack of any statistical significance of parameters related to T cell polyfunctionality. However.Zed by cytotoxic features, including the expression of CD107a [21,40]. The efficacy of anti-HIV specific response has been linked to the “polyfunctionality” of specific clones, i.e. to those cells able to exert simultaneously multiple effectors functions. However, in the first months after PHI, we could not find truly polyfunctional CD4+ and CD8+ T cells, i.e. those performing 4 functions: indeed, we could not detect significant amounts of cells able 18325633 to produce IL-2.The influence and role of Treg during HIV infection remain unclear. Discrepant results have been reported, likely depending on the patient populations, the type and length of treatment, patient’s 12926553 age, the time points analyzed, and the way Tregs were characterized [41,42,43]. Most studies showed that during HIV infection Treg increase in frequency but decrease in absolute number, either in blood or in other compartments, likely because of an increased generation, survival or proliferation in the periphery, or because of a different redistribution among tissues [reviewed in 44]. The role played by Tregs during HIV infection is still poorly understood, as two opposing hypotheses have been proposed. A detrimental role of Tregs during HIV infection was suggested based on the evidence that Tregs suppress virus-specific immune responses. Conversely, Tregs could be beneficial by limiting immune activation, thus controlling the availability of HIV targets as well as preventing immune-based pathologies. Recently, it has been shown that untreated, chronically infected patients can display a 2-fold increase in the frequency of Tregs [26]. On the contrary, HIV+ patients defined “elite long-term ?Biomarkers of HIV Control after PHIFigure 10. Kaplan-Meier survival curves related to the free-oftherapy period. The survival analysis was performed considering the time elapsed from PHI to the occurrence of failure, defined as the start of antiretroviral therapy. Upper pane, all patients; lower panels, patients with different degree of CD8+ T cell activation. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0050728.gfrequency and number of Tregs were not correlated to the control of the immune activation, to the disease progression, nor to viroimmunological parameters. Thus, it might be hypothesized that the time required by the virus (or by the inadequate response to the virus) to provoke functional or phenotypic Treg alterations is longer than that we have considered in our study. Finally, we found high levels of activation in the first two months after primary infection, that decreased over time. Immune activation is a well known important and predictive marker in patients with chronic infection [46], being related to several phenomena, including loss of CD4+ T cells in the gastrointestinal tract and the consequent microbial translocation [47,48]. We are aware that our study has some limitations, the first of which is the limited number of patients followed for a relatively short time. However, it has to be noted that the enrolment of patients with acute HIV infection is quite difficult, and we could only observe a few cases per year. A second limitation of the study is that the percentage of peripheral blood lymphocytes responding to specific HIV peptides were quite low, and that in some cases the individual variability was quite high. These phenomena, along with the number of patients, were likely responsible for the lack of any statistical significance of parameters related to T cell polyfunctionality. However.