MONITORING RESPONSES TO ANTIRETROVIRAL TREATMENT IN HUMAN-IMMUNODEFICIENCY-VIRUS TYPE-1 (HIV-1)-INFECTED PATIENTS BY SERIAL LYMPH-NODE ASPIRATION

Fine-needle aspiration was used to collect lymph node cells (LNC) from 9 antiretroviral-naive patients entering a double-blind single- or co mbined-drug study of zidovudine, zalcitabine, and saquinavir. LNC were obtained twice before and 1 and 6 months after initiation of treatmen t, The effect of antiretroviral treatment on virus load ranged from no response to a dramatic decrease in plasma and LNC human immunodeficie ncy virus (HIV) RNA revels. The decrease in unspliced of spliced (or b oth) HIV RNAs in LNC was correlated with but consistently smaller than the decrease in plasma viremia. When present, the increase in blood C D4 T cells was, in general, moderate and transient. However, a strikin g rise in blood CD4 T cell count and in LNC CD4:CD8 ratio was observed in the 1 patient with the deepest sustained decrease in HIV RNA level in both plasma and lymph nodes.