A Pilot Study to Evaluate the Immunologic Consequences of a Highly Active Antiretroviral Therapy Regimen (HAART) Consisting of Ritonavir (ABT-538), Zidovudine (AZT), and Lamivudine (3TC) in Moderately Advanced HIV-1 Disease

To determine whether administration of a highly active antiretroviral treatment regimen consisting of ritonavir (ABT-538), zidovudine (AZT), and lamivudine (3TC) is associated with the restoration of delayed type hypersensitivity and lymphocyte proliferative responses in patients with moderately advanced HIV-1 infection. To better characterize in these patients the phenotype of the expanded lymphocyte subpopulations, as well as the genotype, phenotype, and cellular origin of viruses that persist after initiation of therapy, and the genotype and phenotype of drug-resistant isolates that emerge during therapy.

Although plasma viral load drops dramatically after initiation of powerful antiretrovirals, it does not drop to zero. It appears that a new steady state is reached, suggesting that a reservoir may exist of virus-producing cells, possibly cells of monocyte/macrophage lineage, that continue to produce a low level of virus despite antiretroviral treatment.