No Benefit of STI in Chronically HIV-infected Patients under Successful Therapy
No Benefit of STI in Chronically HIV-infected Patients under Successful Therapy
Anne-Mieke Vandamme
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*Correspondence: Anne-Mieke Vandamme, Email not available
Abstract
The rationale of performing treatment interruptionsin patients with undetectable viral load is toexpose the immune system to HIV antigens, anticipatingan enhancement of immune responses,and to relieve, at least temporarily, the toxic effectsof the drugs. Patients under long-term successfultherapy tend to loose immune responses to thevirus. Whereas treatment interruption of acute infectionwas shown to contribute to ‘autovaccination’(Rosenberg, et al. Nature 2001;407:523-7),recent results from Oxenius, et al. (PNAS2002;99:13747-54) suggest no virologic or immunologicimprovement for chronically HIV-infectedpatients.
