Clinical Implications of HIV Low-level Viremia at Times of Highly Active Antiretroviral Treatment Regimens

The underlying study is a retrospective analysis of HIV-1 positive patients treated with antiretroviral therapy from Essen since 2004. Stored samples obtained for routine diagnostics will be used to analyze the gag gene, the V3-region and immune cells from selected patients. By comparing different groups of patients this study aims to identify clinical implications of low-level viremia (LLV) and persistent viremia (PV) at times of highly active antiretroviral treatment regimens (cART). The objectives of this study is to (1) determine how often LLV and PV occured during cART in Essen in the last 10 years and whether specific patterns can be correlated, (2) whether the evolution of PI drug resistance can be detected earlier in the gag than in the protease gene, (3) what kind of cellular tropism do HIV-1 isolates (RNA and proviral DNA) have at times of LLV, and (4) what kind of immune cells circulate in the blood during LLV and PV and what kind of functional properties do they have. The groups include patients starting cART as well as patients with cART. Furthermore, clinical data of patients are routinely documented and will be combined with results specifically obtained in this study in an anonymized data set. Since this is a retrospective study, there are no specific endpoints.