Maraviroc in addition to cART during primary HIV infection: Results from MAIN randomized clinical trial and 96-weeks follow-up

•CCR5-inhibitors may be useful in PHI thanks to potential immune-modulatory properties.•MAIN trial was a proof-of-concept randomized trial evaluating MVC + cART in PHI.•Patients receiving MVC for 48 weeks in addition to cART had higher CD4 gain.•Higher CD4 gain was evident regardless of predicted co-receptor usage.•After MVC discontinuation no difference between arms was recorded.

BackgroundMulti-targeted treatment strategies including maraviroc (MVC) during Primary HIV Infection (PHI) may benefit from the immune-modulatory properties of this CCR5-inhibitor.ObjectivesWe conducted a proof-of-concept clinical trial aimed at assessing whether maraviroc in addition of a combination antiretroviral therapy (cART) initiated during PHI would improve immunological and virological parameters.Study designThe MAIN (Maraviroc in HIV Acute INfection) study was a randomized open-label clinical trial (EUDRACT number: 2008-007004-29) which enrolled 29 patients with PHI. Subjects were randomly assigned to receive cART-only (cART), cART + 8 weeks of MVC (ST-MVC) or cART + 48 weeks of MVC (LT-MVC), regardless of predicted co-receptor usage. After 48 weeks patients in ST-MVC and LT-MVC groups discontinued MVC. Patients were evaluated at week 48 and at week 96 of follow-up to assess differences in CD4 T-cell gain and plasma HIV-RNA.ResultsTwenty-nine patients were enrolled. Seven patients (24%) had a predicted CXCR4 co-receptor usage. At week 48, 27 patients (93.1%) reached HIV-RNA <50cps/mL. Median CD4 T-cell count increase was 313 cells/μL (p < 0.001, Wilcoxon signed-rank test). At multivariate linear regression analysis, LT-MVC arm had the greatest CD4 T-cell increase, while patients in ST-MVC arm had the least gain in CD4 T-cells (p = 0.007). At week 96, multivariate analysis showed no associations between former treatment arm and CD4 T-cell gain.ConclusionsThe MAIN study showed that MVC for 48 weeks in addition to cART during PHI was able to enhance CD4 T-cell gain, regardless of co-receptor usage. After MVC discontinuation, the difference between treatment arms was lost.