Restoration of recent thymic emigrant CD4 T cells is associated with sustained adherence to antiretroviral treatment in HIV-infected children.

To evaluate the levels of recent thymic emigrant (RTE) CD4 T cells in HIV-infected children and to explore the associations among their frequency, antiretroviral treatment (ART) adherence, and CD4 T cell restoration. The group evaluated comprised 85 HIV-infected patients classified as subjects with moderate or severe immunosuppression or as those with no evidence of immunosuppression. To evaluate the association between the frequency of RTE CD4 T cells and ART adherence, 23 of the 85 patients were evaluated at two different time points during a one-year follow-up period.

[Antiretroviral treatment adherence and its association with TCD4+ lymphocyte subsets in children with HIV/AIDS].

Human immunodeficiency virus infection causes a severe depletion of TCD4+ lymphocytes and a sustained immune activation state, hallmarks findings that led to numerical and phenotypic changes in the TCD4+ subsets. Highly active anti-retroviral therapy has substantially modified the course of HIV infection. Correct adherence to the treatment results in a decrease in viral load at undetectable levels and a significant increase in the number of peripheral T cell lymphocytes.

[Prevalence of thrombocytopenia in HIV infected children].

Thrombocytopenia is a common hematologic finding in patients infected with the human immunodeficiency virus. Multiple mechanisms may contribute to the development of chronic thrombocytopenia as immune-mediated platelet destruction, enhanced platelet splenic sequestration and impaired platelet production. Acute thrombocytopenia is frequently associated with coexisting disorders.

[Intestinal cryptosporidiosis in HIV infected children].

Cryptosporydium parvum is an intracellular parasite that infects gastrointestinal epithelium and produces diarrhea that is self-limited in immunocompetent persons but potentially life-threatening in immunocompromised, especially those with the acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS). C. parvum enteric infection's incidence in a pediatric HIV/AIDS cohort, during a 6 years period, was studied.

[L-selectin expression on T lymphocytes and neutrophils in HIV infected children].

The ability of leukocytes to leave the circulation and migrate into tissues is a critical feature of the immune response. L-selectin (CD62L), the leukocyte selectin, mediates the binding of lymphocytes to high endothelial venules of peripheral lymph nodes and is also involved in lymphocyte, neutrophil and monocyte attachment to vascular endothelium at sites of inflammation. In this study L-selectin expression on peripheral T cells and neutrophils was evaluated in 25 HIV infected children, who had not received antiretroviral therapy, and 25 healthy controls.