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Efficient Thymopoiesis Contributes to the Maintenance of Peripheral CD4 T Cells during Chronic Human Immunodeficiency Virus Type 2 Infection

2007; American Society for Microbiology; Volume: 81; Issue: 22 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1128/jvi.01131-07

1098-5514

David Gautier, Stéphanie Beq, Catarina S. Cortesão, Ana E. Sousa, Rémi Cheynier,

Immunodeficiency and Autoimmune Disorders

ABSTRACT Human immunodeficiency virus type 2 (HIV-2) infection leads to a lifelong asymptomatic period in the majority of patients. Even in patients with progressive disease, a slow CD4 count decline characterizes the chronic phase of HIV-2 infection, suggesting that peripheral T-cell homeostasis is controlled better following HIV-2 infection than following HIV-1 infection. Herein we showed that, in contrast to HIV-1-infected patients, HIV-2-infected patients demonstrate enhanced thymic function compared to age-matched healthy individuals. The correlation between higher thymic production and lower CD4 T-cell loss in these patients suggests that efficient thymopoiesis is implicated in the long-lasting maintenance of CD4 T-cell counts in HIV-2 disease.