Katja C. Wolthers, G. Bea, A. Wisman, Sigrid A. Otto, Ana-Maria de Roda Husman, Niels Schaft, Frank de Wolf, Jaap Goudsmit, Roel A. Coutinho, Ate G. J. van der Zee, Linde Meyaard, Frank Miedema ^*

Progression to acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) has been related to exhaustion of the regenerative capacity of the immune system resulting from high T cell turnover. Analysis of telomeric terminal restriction fragment (TRF) length, a marker for cellular replicative history, showed that CD8⁺ T cell TRF length decreased but CD4⁺ T cell TRF length was stable during the course of human immunodeficiency virus type-1 (HIV-1) infection, which was not explained by differential telomerase activity. This observation provides evidence that turnover in the course of HIV-1 infection can be increased considerably in CD8⁺ T cells, but not in CD4⁺ T cells. These results are compatible with CD4⁺ T cell decline in HIV-1 infection caused by interference with cell renewal.

K. C. Wolthers, S. A. Otto, A.-M. de Roda Husman, N. Schaft, L. Meyaard, Department of Clinical Viro-Immunology, Central Laboratory of the Netherlands Red Cross Blood Transfusion Service and Laboratory for Experimental and Clinical Immunology of the University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, Netherlands.
G. B. A. Wisman and A. G. J. van der Zee, Department of Gynaecology and Obstetrics, Academic Hospital Groningen, University of Groningen, Groningen, Netherlands.
F. de Wolf and J. Goudsmit, Department of Human Retrovirology, Academic Medical Centre, University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, Netherlands.
R. A. Coutinho, Department of Public Health, Municipal Health Service, Amsterdam, Netherlands.
F. Miedema, Department of Clinical Viro-Immunology, Central Laboratory of the Netherlands Red Cross Blood Transfusion Service and Laboratory for Experimental and Clinical Immunology of the University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, Netherlands, and Department of Human Retrovirology, Academic Medical Centre, University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, Netherlands.
^*   To whom correspondence should be addressed at Central Laboratory of the Netherlands Red Cross Blood Transfusion Service, Department of Clinical Viro-Immunology, Plesmanlaan 125, 1066 CX Amsterdam, Netherlands. E-mail: clbkvi{at}xs4all.nl