Microarray analysis of whole-blood in HIV-infected Viremic Non Progressor patients

We assessed correlates of protection from disease progression in a rare subset of HIV-infected individuals, viremic non-progressors (VNPs). These individuals have high viral load for several years, but in contrast to the majority of infected individuals, they do not progress to AIDS. Here we found this lack of progression was associated with selective preservation of two essential subsets of memory CD4+ T cells, central memory (TCM) and stem-cell memory (TSCM) cells. Compared to HIV-infected putative progressors, VNPs had higher proliferation of these indispensable subsets of memory cells, which was associated with the number of TCM. In addition, the long-lived CD4+ TCM and TSCM cells in VNPs had decreased HIV infection compared to the less critical effector memory CD4+ T cells, which indicates a possible mechanism by which VNPs maintain their CD4+ T cell pool after several years of infection, and remain free from AIDS progression.

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