De novo T-cell generation in patients at different ages and stages of HIV-1 disease

cells), intermediate-stage disease (200500 CD4 T cells), and late-stage disease (fewer than 200 CD4 T cells). Compared with the control group, CD8 TREC contents were severely reduced (P < .001) in HIV-1‐infected subjects regardless of the stage of HIV disease. In contrast, CD4 TREC contents were significantly increased (P .003) in HIV-1‐infected subjects during early-stage disease, similar at intermediate-stage disease, and severely reduced only at late-stage disease. We show that the increase in CD4 TRECs was mostly limited to younger (younger than 45 years) patients at early-stage disease. Our results demonstrate a dichotomy between TREC contents in CD4 and CD8 T-cell populations in HIV-1 infection and indicate that thymus function in younger subjects is preserved at early and intermediate stages of HIV infection. (Blood. 2004;104:470-477)