ARTHRALGIAS AND CRYOGLOBULINEMIA DURING PROTEASE INHIBITOR THERAPY INA PATIENT INFECTED WITH HUMAN-IMMUNODEFICIENCY-VIRUS AND HEPATITIS-C VIRUS

We present the case of a woman who had a chronic infection with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) and hepatitis C virus (HCV). She develope d severe polyarthralgias associated with type II mixed cryoglobulinemi a during therapy with an HIV-1 protease inhibitor, This therapy result ed in a dramatic increase in her CD1+ T cell count, from 70/mm(3) to 5 67/mm(3), which was composed of a high proportion (88%) of naive CD45R A+ CD62L+ cells, together with a recovery of her CD4+ T cell reactivit y to antigenic stimulation, This mag suggest that rapid recovery of im mune competence in the CD1+ T helper subset might participate in the d evelopment of immunopathologic events such as this patient's cryoglobu linemia.