Anti-HIV antibodies are representative of the latent reservoir but do not correlate with viral control in people with long-lasting virological suppression undergoing analytical treatment interruption (APACHE study)

Analysis of HIV humoral immunity in long-term ART-treated treated patients who underwent analytic treatment interruption (ATI) demonstrated that the baseline antibody levels against seven HIV antigens did not influence time to viral rebound and remained generally stable between the pre-ATI baseline, viral rebound occurring a median of 21 days post-ATI, and viral resuppression. Baseline levels of antibodies against protease, integrase and Gp120 directly correlated with the size of the viral reservoir in circulating CD4 T cells. These findings support antibody profiling of HIV infected patients as a useful tool to monitor the host immune responses in connection with viral activity.