Gene expression profile in long-term non progressor HIV infected patients: in search of potential resistance factors.

Long-term non-progressors (LTNP) represent a minority (1-5%) of HIV-infected individuals characterized by documented infection for more than 7-10 years, a stable CD4+ T cell count over 500/mm(3) and low viremia in the absence of antiretroviral treatment. Protective factors described so far such as the CCR5delta32 deletion, protective HLA alleles, or defective viruses fail to fully explain the partial protection phenotype. The existence of additional host resistance mechanisms in LTNP patients was investigated here using a whole human genome microarray study comparing gene expression profiles of unstimulated peripheral blood mononuclear cells from LTNP patients, HIV-1 infected patients under antiretroviral therapy with CD4+ T cell levels above 500/mm(3) (ST), as well as healthy individuals.