T cell maturation and senescence after HCV cure in HIV-HCV coinfected patients: a prospective study

Abstract Previously, we identified a stabilization of the HIV reservoir size in HIV + monoinfected and HIV+/HCV + coinfected patients who eliminated HCV with DAAs as well as a decrease in HIV reservoir size in HIV+/HCV- spontaneously clearers. However, variations in the distribution of memory CD4 + T cell subpopulations in coinfected patients after HCV clearance remains unclear. To analyze the expression pattern of T cell maturation (CD45RA and CD27) and senescence (CD28 and CD57) markers by flow cytometry in those patients. Longitudinal study (52 weeks follow-up) of 49 HIV+/HCV+, 38 HIV+/HCV- and 59 HIV + subjects, all of them aviremic. A generalized increase in expression of CD28 was observed for CD8 + and in CD4 + CD27 + cells. The proportion of both CD4 + TEM TH1 and TH2 cells decreased significantly in HIV+/HCV- while remained stable in HIV + and HIV+/HCV + individuals. The general decline in cell senescence of cytotoxic lymphocytes may be due to reduced antigenic stimulation of HIV-specific and HCV-specific lymphocytes. The dynamic of HIV viral reservoir in HIV+/HCV- patients matches the dynamic of CD4 + cells with a TH1 phenotype, which could mean a decrease in the number of circulating TFH1 lymphocytes after an improvement in generalized inflammation state.