Reduced Levels of CD4 Cell Spontaneous Apoptosis in Human Immunodeficiency Virus–Infected Patients with Discordant Response to Protease Inhibitors

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Abstract
A paradoxical maintenance of high CD4 cell count in the presence of sustained high levels of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) replication has been observed in up to 10% of infected patients receiving protease inhibitors (PIs) [1]. It has been recently suggested that the genesis of the improvement in CD4 cell count in patients with virologic treatment failure is mostly related to their increased thymic output and not to changes in the rate of CD4 cell apoptosis [2]. We obtained different results in a cohort of patients with a sustained increase in CD4 cell count coupled with sustained virologic treatment failure