Greater Reversal of CD4 + Cell Abnormalities and Viral Load Reduction after Initiation of Antiretroviral Therapy with Zidovudine,Lamivudine,and Nelfinavir before Complete HIV Type 1 Seroconversion

Abstract

In a prospective open-label study, 41 male subjects received nelfinavir, zidovudine, and lamivudine stratified as either: early stage (ES; negative/indeterminate Western blot; n = 19) or late stage (LS; positive Western blot; n = 22) primary HIV-1 infection. Despite higher median baseline HIV-1 RNA levels and lower CD4⁺ cell numbers in the ES subjects, a significantly greater decline in viral load (–3.46 vs. –2.83 log₁₀ copies/ml; p = 0.023) and increase in CD4⁺ cell number (+85 vs. +41 cells/month increase, p = 0.01) were observed over the first 3 months of therapy such that both groups had comparable results at 1 year. The proportion with HIV-1 RNA < 50 copies/mL at 1 year was similar (9 of 19 ES subjects and 11 of 22 LS subjects by intention-to-treat analysis). Memory CD4⁺ cell numbers, and activated CD4⁺ percentages, were also significantly improved in ES subjects. Despite poorer prognostic markers at baseline ES subjects achieved responses similar to those of LS subjects after 1 year of treatment.