Prevalence and factors involved in discordant responses to highly active antiretroviral treatment in a closely followed cohort of treatment-naïve HIV-infected patients

We demonstrated that the prevalence of virologic response decreased at week 72 and disappeared after 96 weeks of treatment. This slower CD4 repopulation correlated with a lower thymic volume compared to those with complete response. Also, the probability of having virologic response did not correlate with protease inhibitor-based (PI-based) regimens or HCV coinfection. On the other hand, immune response in our cohort could be easily attributable to a simple mechanism, i.e. irregular treatment compliance.