PULMONARY CD4+ T-CELL RE-POPULATION IN IMMUNE RECONSTITUTION SYNDROME

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This subproject is one of many research subprojects utilizing the resources provided by a Center grant funded by NIH/NCRR. The subproject and investigator (PI) may have received primary funding from another NIH source, and thus could be represented in other CRISP entries. The institution listed is for the Center, which is not necessarily the institution for the investigator. Most patients with HIV infection will have a pulmonary complication at some point during the course of their disease. The advent of highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART) has dramatically decreased the incidence of pulmonary infections. Although infections still predominate, some patient have a paradoxical worsening after initiation of HAART despite evidence of a recovering immune system. This phenomenon is termed immune restoration disease (IRD) and can affect up to 25% of patients who initiate HAART. IRD can be fatal and frequently mimics active pulmonary infection in some patients. As such, it can be a difficult diagnosis and contribute to morbidity and excessive clinical testing. Early pulmonary IRD is usually caused by latent or unrecognized infections at the time HAART is initiated. These infectious agents provide the substrate for the immunopathological response in IRD. Stratifying people at risk for IRD and assessing their longterm outcome is thus increasingly important, especially as the number of patients treated with HAART increases worldwide. We hypothesize that pulmonary IRD is clinically underrecognized and mediated by unbalanced Th1 responses. We propose to address this hypothesis by performing sequential CT scans, clinical assessment and bronchoscopies to harvest lung T cells in patients starting HAART. Cytokine measurements, flow cytometry, and TREC analysis will be performed on lung and blood T cell subsets to assess if na¿ve or memory cells are responsible for Th1-mediated IRD. These studies also will provide information on incidence, outcome, and the immunologic foundation for IRD treatment strategies.