HIV Treatment Bulletin - August / September 2003

Important findings may explain the different responses that have been reported following treatment interruptions and the results appear to have little to do with the immunological effects that were being closely studied.

Low pretreatment env diversity in patients controlling viraemia after STI suggests that those viral characteristics were not influenced by STI but were already present years before any therapy was started.

The researchers analysed viral isolates taken from 20 chronically infected patients participating in the Swiss-Spanish Intermittent Therapy Trial (SSITT) which had previously reported no cumulative benefit from several planned treatment breaks. This analysis found that SSITT-baseline neutralising activity but not HIV-specific CTL- or T-help responses were associated with control of viraemia.

Ref: Günthard H, Joos B, Kuster H et al. Virus characteristics predict viraemia control after cessation of antiretroviral therapy. Antiviral Therapy 2003; 8:S63 (Abstract 56).

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