Lack of viral control and development of combination antiretroviral therapy escape mutations in macaques after bone marrow transplantation.

Objective: We have previously demonstrated robust control of simian/human immunodeficiency virus (SHIV1157-ipd3N4) viremia following administration of combination antiretroviral therapy (cART) in pigtailed macaques. Here, we sought to determine the safety of hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT) in cART-suppressed and unsuppressed animals.

Design: We compared disease progression in animals challenged with SHIV 100 days post-transplant, to controls that underwent transplant following SHIV challenge and stable cART-dependent viral suppression.