689 A RTÍCULO DE I NVESTIGACIÓN Restauración de la inmunidad innata en pacientes con infección por VIH / SID A después de inicio de terapia antirretroviral Alejandro Afani S 1 , Lorena Jiusán L 1 , Pablo Raby A 1 , Giovanni Sitia 2 , Javier Puente P 3a , Cecilia Sepúlveda C 1 , Dante Miranda W 3a , Roy Cabrera C 4 , Luca Guidotti 2 , Paola Lanza 5b . Innate immunity restoration in patients with HIV/AIDS infection associated with antiretroviral therapy Background: Highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART) in HIV/ AIDS infection induces an important reduction of the viral load (VL) and an immune system reconstitution. CD4+ T lymphocyte count is the immunological measurement commonly used for the follow up of HIV/AIDS patients. Aim: To study prospectively the restoration of the innate immune system in patients with HIV/AIDS infection during their first year on HAART. Patients and Methods: 25 naive HIV/AIDS patients, from San José Hospital and University of Chile Clinical Hospital, Santiago, Chile, were studied between years 2002-2003. Every 4 months after HAART initiation, CD3+, CD4+, CD8+ T lymphocytes and CD16/56+ natural killer (NK) cells were quantified by flow cytometry. NK cell cytotoxicity was measured using radioactive chrome liberation (Cr51). Tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-α) and interleukin-10 (IL-10) were measured in peripheral blood mononuclear cells and viral load was determined using Amplicor HIV-1 from Roche Diagnostics Systems. Results: Thirteen of the 25 patients continued in the study. They were all males, average age 35 years old (23-50). At baseline average CD4+ count was 146 cells/L (31-362) and average viral load was 82.000 copies/mL (4.000-290.000). A raise in CD3+, CD4+, CD8+, and CD16/56 cells was noted at months 9-12 of therapy. Viral load became undetectable in the same period. NK cell function was decreased at the beginning of the therapy (1-4 months), reaching its highest values at months 9-12. There was no significant change in IL-10. TNF-α increased in six patients during the study. Conclusions: In this group of patients, innate immunity was restored during HAART. These results should be confirmed in studies with a longer follow up period and also measuring cytokines such as MIP-1α, MIP-1ß and RANTES (Rev Méd Chile 2006; 134: 689-96). (Key words: Antiretroviral therapy, highly active; CD4-positive T-lymphocytes; HIV; immunity, natural) Recibido el 12 de julio, 2005. Aceptado el 1 de diciembre, 2005. Proyecto financiado por Concurso Extraordinario Departamento de Investigación y Desa- rrollo (DID), Universidad de Chile, 2001. 1 Hospital Clínico de la Universidad de Chile, Santiago, Chile. 2 Instituto Científico San Raffaele, Milán, Italia. 3 Facultad de Ciencias Químicas y Farmacéuticas, Universidad de Chile, Santiago, Chile. 4 Hospital San José, Santiago, Chile. 5 Instituto de Ciencias Biomédicas, Facultad de Medicina, Universidad de Chile, Santiago, Chile. a Bioquímico b Biólogo Rev Méd Chile 2006; 134: 689-696 Correspondencia a: Alejandro Afani S. Santos Dumont 999, 5 piso, sector E, Of. 517, Independencia. Fax: 7375916. E mail: aafani@vtr.net