Impact of tuberculosis treatment on CD4 cell count, HIV RNA, and p24 antigen in patients with HIV and tuberculosis.

Objectives: To describe HIV RNA levels during tuberculosis (TB) infection in patients co-infected with TB and HIV. Moreover, to examine the p24 antigen profile during TB treatment.

Methods: We examined the changes in CD4 cell count, HIV RNA, and p24 levels during anti-tuberculous therapy in a group of TB/HIV-1 co-infected and HIV-untreated patients from Guinea-Bissau.

Results: A total of 365 TB patients were enrolled, of whom 76 were co-infected with HIV-1 and 19 were dually infected with HIV-1 + HIV-2. No significant changes in CD4, HIV RNA, or p24 levels were found during 8 months of TB treatment. HIV RNA levels correlated well with p24 (Spearman's R(2)=0.52, p<0.00001) and both markers were strong predictors of mortality. Initial HIV RNA levels correlated with a clinical TB severity index--the TBscore (Spearman's R(2)=0.23, p=0.02)--and the TBscore decreased dramatically during TB treatment although HIV RNA levels remained unchanged.

Conclusion: We found no significant changes in CD4, HIV RNA, or p24 antigen levels during 8 months of TB treatment among TB/HIV co-infected individuals, who did not receive antiretroviral treatment. The markers were unaffected by a strong improvement in TBscore and all three markers showed predictive capacity for mortality risk.