Aim of the study / Patients ’ characteristics

1. T-cell activation positively correlates with cell-associatedHIV-DNA level in PBMCs in viremic patients with acute or chronic HIV-1 infection Laurence Weiss, Mathieu F. Chevalier, Lambert Assoumou, Céline Didier, Pierre-Marie Girard, Dominique Costagliola, Christine Rouzioux, and the ANRS116 SALTO Study Group

2. Aim of the study / Patients’ characteristics Low level viremia supported by latently infected cells might contribute to chronic T-cell activation, while immune activation may in turn be involved in HIV reservoir seeding. Aimofthestudy:toevaluatetherelationship between levels of T-cell activation and total cell-associated HIV-DNA in PBMCs in viremic patients with PHI or with CHI before and after ART interruption.

3. T-cell activation positively correlates with total HIV-DNA level in viremic patients but not in ART-treated patients Primary HIV infection Chronic HIV infection ART- treated patients Treatment interruption (TI) % CD38 + in CD8 T cells % CD38 + in CD8 T cells 12 months following TI HIV DNA (log copies/106 PBMC) HIV DNA (log copies/106 PBMC) % CD38 + in CD8 T cells % CD38 + in CD4 T cells % CD38 + in CD4 T cells HIV DNA (log copies/106 PBMC) HIV DNA (log copies/106 PBMC) HIV DNA (log copies/106 PBMC)

4. Discussion/Conclusion Levels of T-cell activation positively correlate with HIV-DNA levels in viremic patients with acute or chronic infection. The lack of association between HIV-DNA levels and T-cell activation in ART-treated patients suggests that residual immune activation is not directly dependent on the size of the latent HIV reservoir, at least in early ART-treated patients. Acknowledgments Pierre-Marie Girard Pauline Campa Mathieu Chevalier Céline Didier Gaël Petitjean Daniel Scott-Algara Françoise Barré-Sinoussi Christophe Piketty Maria Manea Erika Bourzam …and the SALTO study group U943 Dominique Costagliola Lambert Assoumou And all the patients EA 3620 Christine Rouzioux