Regulatory T cells modulate monocyte functions in immunocompetent antiretroviral therapy naive HIV-1 infected people.

We previously demonstrated that the overall number of regulatory T (Treg) cells decrease proportionately with helper CD4 T cells and their frequencies increase in antiretroviral therapy (ART)-naive human immunodeficiency virus type-1 (HIV-1) infected individuals. The question now is whether the discrepancies in Treg cell numbers and frequencies are synonymous to an impairment of their functions. To address this, we purified Treg cells and assessed their ability to modulate autologous monocytes functions.