Switching from protease inhibitor-based-HAART to a protease inhibitor-sparing regimen is associated with improved specific HIV-immune responses in HIV-infected children

To evaluate the effects of switching from successful long-term protease inhibitor (PI)-based HAART to a three nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitor PI-sparing regimen, viral load quantification, HIV-specific lymphoproliferative assay and T-cell receptor (TCR) spectratyping were performed during 96 weeks of simplification follow-up in 19 HIV-infected children. Our data showed that simplification of therapeutic strategies acts positively on immune competence in HIV paediatric patients. Our children maintained viral suppression, increased lymphoproliferative responses and normalized TCRBV repertoire on the CD8 subset.