BOSTON – For infants with HIV infection, baseline immune function and birth health appear to influence viral control after the discontinuation of antiretroviral therapy (ART), an analysis of data from the landmark CHER trial shows.
Among 183 children diagnosed with HIV between 6 and 12 weeks of age who were started on early, time-limited ART, longer time to viral rebound after treatment discontinuation was associated with higher baseline CD4 percentages, higher birth weight, and with achievement of viral suppression within 40 weeks of starting on ART, reported Man Chan, PhD, of the Medical Research Council clinical trials unit at University College London.
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The CHER trial compared South African infants with HIV on either 40 or 96 weeks of immediate ART with those on deferred ART. The results showed that early time-limited ART was associated with better clinical and immunologic outcomes than was deferred ART and influenced a change in treatment guidelines (Lancet 2013 Nov 9;382[9904]:1555-63).
In the current analysis, investigators examined viral control after treatment interruption in early-treated children and looked for factors that could influence time to viral rebound after ART cessation.
They measured viral load from stored samples at 1.8 weeks after ART interruption and then every 12 weeks thereafter. They defined viral rebound as two consecutive samples with 400 or more copies/mL.
Of the 183 children in the sample, 177 had a rebound; the remaining six children were censored from the analysis, five because they had restarted ART, and one child who remained in viral suppression with an undetectable viral load and was asymptomatic for 8.5 years off ART.