HLA-B*5701 is the host factor most strongly associated with slow HIV-1 disease progression, although rates can vary within this group. Underlying mechanisms are not fully understood but likely involve both immunological and virological dynamics. The present study investigated HIV-1 in vivo evolution and epitope-specific CD8+ T cell responses in six HLA-B*5701 patients who had not received antiretroviral treatment, monitored from early infection for up to 7 years. The subjects were classified as high-risk progressors (HRPs) or low-risk progressors (LRPs) based on baseline CD4+ T cell counts. Dynamics of HIV-1 Gag p24 evolution and multifunctional CD8+ T cell responses were evaluated by high-resolution phylogenetic analysis and polychromatic flow cytometry, respectively. In all subjects, substitutions occurred more frequently in flanking regions than in HLA-B*5701-restricted epitopes. In LRPs, p24 sequence diversity was significantly lower; sequences exhibited a higher degree of homoplasy and more constrained mutational patterns than HRPs. The HIV-1 intrahost evolutionary rate was also lower in LRPs and followed a strict molecular clock, suggesting neutral genetic drift rather than positive selection. Additionally, polyfunctional CD8+ T cell responses, particularly to TW10 and QW9 epitopes, were more robust in LRPs, who also showed significantly higher interleukin-2 (IL-2) production in early infection. Overall, the findings indicate that HLA-B*5701 patients with higher CD4 counts at baseline have a lower risk of HIV-1 disease progression because of the interplay between specific HLA-linked immune responses and the rate and mode of viral evolution. The study highlights the power of a multidisciplinary approach, integrating high-resolution evolutionary and immunological data, to understand mechanisms underlying HIV-1 pathogenesis.

Context

Advances in antiretroviral therapy (ART) for HIV offer life-extending benefit; however, the side effects associated with ART use negatively impact quality of life and medication adherence among people living with HIV.

Objectives

This study tested the efficacy of mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR) for reducing ART symptoms and bother/distress related to ART side effects. Secondary aims were to test the impact of MBSR on medication adherence and psychological functioning.

Methods

Seventy-six people living with HIV who were actively taking ART and reported distress from ART-related side effects were randomly assigned to MBSR or a wait-list control standard care condition. We measured side effects, ART adherence, perceived stress, depression, positive and negative affect, and mindfulness at three time points: baseline, three-month follow-up, and six-month follow-up. Side effects and related distress were assessed separately from other symptoms.

Results

Compared to a wait-list control, participants in the MBSR condition experienced a reduction in the frequency of symptoms attributable to antiretroviral therapies at three months post intervention (mean difference = 0.33; 95% confidence interval [CI] = 0.01, 0.66; t(132) = 2.04, P = 0.044) and at six months post intervention (mean difference = 0.38; 95% CI = 0.05, 0.71; t(132) = 2.27, P = 0.025). MBSR participants also experienced a reduction in distress associated with those symptoms at three months post intervention (mean difference = 0.47; 95% CI = 0.003, 0.94; t(132) = 1.99, P = 0.048) compared with the wait-list control condition.

Conclusion

Mindfulness-based stress reduction is a promising approach for reducing HIV treatment-related side effects.

Objective

HIV-1 viral load in early infection predicts the risk of subsequent disease progression but the factors responsible for the differences between individuals in viral load during this period have not been fully identified. We sought to determine the relationship between HIV-1 RNA levels in the source partner and recently infected recipient partners within transmission pairs.

Methods

We recruited donor partners of persons who presented with acute or recent (< 6 months) HIV infection. Transmission was confirmed by phyologenetic comparison of virus sequence in the donor and recipient partners. We compared viral load in the donor partner and the recipient in the first 6 months of HIV infection.

Results

We identified 24 transmission pairs. The median estimated time from infection to evaluation in acutely/recently infected recipient individuals was 72 days. The viral load in the donor was closely associated with viral load at presentation in the recipient case (r=0.55, P=0.006).

Conclusion

The strong correlation between HIV-1 RNA levels within HIV transmission pairs indicates that virus characteristics are an important determinant of viral load in early HIV infection.

Background. Central nervous system (CNS) human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection and immune activation lead to brain injury and neurological impairment. Although HIV enters the nervous system soon after transmission, the magnitude of infection and immunoactivation within the CNS during primary HIV infection (PHI) has not been characterized.

Methods. This cross-sectional study analyzed cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) and blood from 96 participants with PHI and compared them with samples from neuroasymptomatic participants with chronic infection and ≥200 or <200 blood CD4 T cells/μL, and with samples from HIV-seronegative participants with respect to CSF and plasma HIV RNA, CSF to serum albumin ratio, and CSF white blood cell counts (WBC), neopterin levels, and concentrations of chemokines CXCL10 and CCL2.

Results. The PHI participants (median 77 days post transmission) had CSF HIV RNA, WBC, neopterin, and CXCL10 concentrations similar to the chronic infection participants but uniquely high albumin ratios. 18 participants had ≤100 copies/mL CSF HIV RNA, which was associated with low CSF to plasma HIV ratios and levels of CSF inflammation lower than in other PHI participants but higher than in HIV-seronegative controls.

Conclusions. Prominent CNS infection and immune activation is evident during the first months after HIV transmission, though a proportion of PHI patients demonstrate relatively reduced CSF HIV RNA and inflammation during this early period.

Background. Identifying persons with recent human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) antibody seroconversion is useful for treatment, research, and prevention, but the sensitivity and specificity of tests for this purpose are uncertain.

Methods. We used longitudinal specimens panels from 155 persons identified prior to HIV seroconversion to assess antibody-based methods for classifying persons as within 30, 60, or 90 days of seroconversion, including 2 incidence assays, a less-sensitive (LS) enzyme immunoassay (EIA), and the BED assay.

Results. Sensitivity and specificity, respectively, for identifying persons within 30 days of seroconversion were: 34%–57% and 98%–100% for 2 standard EIAs (employing a signal-to-cutoff ≤4.0; ≥1.0 defines HIV positive), 84% and 73% for the LS-EIA (≤0.2 cutoff), 88% and 72% for the BED (≤0.2 cutoff), and 43%–58% and 98% (≤3 bands) for 2 Western blot (WB) assays. By area under the receiver operator curves, the best test for identifying persons within 30 days of seroconversion was the number of bands on the Bio-Rad WB (0.90); within 60 days, the LS-EIA and BED (both 0.85); and for persons within 90 days the BED (0.86).

Conclusions. Standard EIAs, Western blots, and HIV incidence assays provide useful information for identifying persons 30 to 90 days after seroconversion.

Summary

Background

Psychological distress and metabolic dysregulation are associated with markers of accelerated cellular aging, including reduced telomerase activity and shortened telomere length. We examined whether participation in a mindfulness-based intervention, and, secondarily, improvements in psychological distress, eating behavior, and metabolic factors are associated with increases in telomerase activity in peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs).

Methods

We enrolled 47 overweight/obese women in a randomized waitlist-controlled pilot trial (n = 47) of a mindfulness-based intervention for stress eating and examined changes in telomerase activity from pre- to post-intervention. In secondary analyses, changes in telomerase activity across the sample were examined in relation to pre- to post-intervention changes in psychological distress, eating behavior, and metabolic factors (weight, serum cortisol, fasting glucose and insulin, and insulin resistance).

Results

Both groups increased in mean telomerase activity over 4 months in intent-to-treat and treatment efficacy analyses (p < 0.001). Nonsignificant trends showed that greater attendance was associated with increases in telomerase, and telomerase increases were 18% higher among ‘as treated’ participants compared to controls. Across groups, changes in chronic stress, anxiety, dietary restraint, dietary fat intake, cortisol, and glucose were negatively correlated with changes in telomerase activity. In exploratory analyses, decreases in dietary fat intake partially mediated the association between dietary restraint and telomerase activity with marginal significance.

Conclusions

While there was no clear effect of the intervention on telomerase activity, there was a striking pattern of correlations between improvements in psychological distress, eating behavior, and metabolic health and increases in telomerase activity. These findings suggest that telomerase activity may be in part regulated by levels of both psychological and metabolic stress.

Mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) signaling pathways are dynamic and sensitive regulators of T cell function and differentiation. Altered MAPK signaling has been associated with the inflammatory and autoimmune diseases lupus and arthritis and with some pathogenic viral infections. HIV-1 infection is characterized by chronic immune inflammation, aberrantly heightened CD8+ T cell activation levels, and altered T cell function. The relationship between MAPK pathway function, HIV-1-induced activation (CD38 and HLA-DR), and exhaustion (Tim-3) markers in circulating CD8+ T cells remains unknown. Phosphorylation of the MAPK effector proteins ERK and p38 was examined by “phosflow” flow cytometry in 79 recently HIV-1-infected, antiretroviral-treatment-naïve adults and 21 risk-matched HIV-1-negative controls. We identified a subset of CD8+ T cells refractory to phorbol 12-myristate 13-acetate plus ionomycin-induced ERK1/2 phosphorylation (referred to as p-ERK1/2-refractory cells) that was greatly expanded in HIV-1-infected adults. The CD8+ p-ERK1/2-refractory cells were highly activated (CD38+ HLA-DR+) but not exhausted (Tim-3 negative), tended to have low CD8 expression, and were enriched in intermediate and late transitional memory states of differentiation (CD45RA− CD28− CD27+/−). Targeting MAPK pathways to restore ERK1/2 signaling may normalize immune inflammation levels and restore CD8+ T cell function during HIV-1 infection.

Background. Transmitted human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) drug resistance (TDR) mutations can become replaced over time by emerging wild-type viral variants with improved fitness. The impact of class-specific mutations on this rate of mutation replacement is uncertain.

Methods. We studied participants with acute and/or early HIV infection and TDR in 2 cohorts (San Francisco, California, and São Paulo, Brazil). We followed baseline mutations longitudinally and compared replacement rates between mutation classes with use of a parametric proportional hazards model.

Results. Among 75 individuals with 195 TDR mutations, M184V/I became undetectable markedly faster than did nonnucleoside reverse-transcriptase inhibitor (NNRTI) mutations (hazard ratio, 77.5; 95% confidence interval [CI], 14.7–408.2; P < .0001), while protease inhibitor and NNRTI replacement rates were similar. Higher plasma HIV-1 RNA level predicted faster mutation replacement, but this was not statistically significant (hazard ratio, 1.71 log10 copies/mL; 95% CI, .90–3.25 log10 copies/mL; P = .11). We found substantial person-to-person variability in mutation replacement rates not accounted for by viral load or mutation class (P < .0001).

Conclusions. The rapid replacement of M184V/I mutations is consistent with known fitness costs. The long-term persistence of NNRTI and protease inhibitor mutations suggests a risk for person-to-person propagation. Host and/or viral factors not accounted for by viral load or mutation class are likely influencing mutation replacement and warrant further study.

Chronic stress is associated with negative health outcomes and is linked with neuroendocrine changes, deleterious effects on innate and adaptive immunity, and central nervous system neuropathology. Although stress management is commonly advocated clinically, there is insufficient mechanistic understanding of how decreasing stress affects disease pathogenesis. Therefore, we have developed a “calm mouse model” with caging enhancements designed to reduce murine stress. Male BALB/c mice were divided into four groups: control (Cntl), standard caging; calm (Calm), large caging to reduce animal density, a cardboard nest box for shelter, paper nesting material to promote innate nesting behavior, and a polycarbonate tube to mimic tunneling; control exercise (Cntl Ex), standard caging with a running wheel, known to reduce stress; and calm exercise (Calm Ex), calm caging with a running wheel. Calm, Cntl Ex and Calm Ex animals exhibited significantly less corticosterone production than Cntl animals. We also observed changes in spleen mass, and in vitro splenocyte studies demonstrated that Calm Ex animals had innate and adaptive immune responses that were more sensitive to acute handling stress than those in Cntl. Calm animals gained greater body mass than Cntl, although they had similar food intake, and we also observed changes in body composition, using magnetic resonance imaging. Together, our results suggest that the Calm mouse model represents a promising approach to studying the biological effects of stress reduction in the context of health and in conjunction with existing disease models.

Background. Pediatric hematopoietic cell transplant (HCT) is a lifesaving treatment that often results in physical and psychological discomfort. An acupressure-massage intervention may improve symptom management in this setting. Methods. This randomized controlled pilot trial compared a combined massage-acupressure intervention to usual care. Children were offered three practitioner-provided sessions per week throughout hospitalization. Parents were trained to provide additional acupressure as needed. Symptoms were assessed using nurses' reports and two questionnaires, the behavioral affective and somatic experiences scale and the Peds quality of life cancer module. Results. We enrolled 23 children, ages 5 to 18. Children receiving the intervention reported fewer days of mucositis (Hedges' g effect size ES = 0.63), lower overall symptom burden (ES = 0.26), feeling less tired and run-down (ES = 0.86), having fewer moderate/severe symptoms of pain, nausea, and fatigue (ES = 0.62), and less pain (ES = 0.42). The intervention group showed trends toward increasing contentness/serenity (ES = +0.50) and decreasing depression (ES = −0.45), but not decreased anxiety (ES = +0.42). Differences were not statistically significant. Discussion. Feasibility of studying massage-acupressure was established in children undergoing HCT. Larger studies are needed to test the efficacy of such interventions in reducing HCT-associated symptoms in children.

Cytokine immunotherapy is being evaluated as adjunct treatment in infectious diseases. The effects on innate and adaptive immunity in vivo are insufficiently known. Here, we investigate whether combination treatment with antiretroviral therapy (ART) and IL-2 of patients with primary HIV-1 infection induces sustained increases in circulating NKT cell and NK cell numbers and effector functions, and investigate how changes are coordinated in the two compartments. Patients with primary HIV-1 infection starting ART were analyzed for numbers, phenotype, and function of NKT cells, NK cells and dendritic cells (DCs) in peripheral blood before, during and after IL-2 treatment. NKT cells expanded during IL-2 treatment, as expected from previous studies. However, their response to α-galactosyl ceramide antigen were retained but not boosted. Myeloid DCs did not change their numbers or CD1d-expression during treatment. In contrast, the NK cell compartment responded with rapid expansion of the CD56dim effector subset, and enhanced IFNγ production. Expansions of NKT cells and NK cells retracted back towards baseline values at 12 months after IL-2 treatment ended. In summary, NKT cells and NK cells respond to IL-2 treatment with different kinetics. Effects on cellular function are distinct between the cell types, and the effects appear to not be sustained after IL-2 treatment ends. These results improve our understanding of the effects of cytokine immunotherapy on innate cellular immunity in early HIV-1 infection.

Psychological distress and elevated cortisol secretion promote abdominal fat, a feature of the Metabolic Syndrome. Effects of stress reduction interventions on abdominal fat are unknown. Forty-seven overweight/obese women (mean BMI = 31.2) were randomly assigned to a 4-month intervention or waitlist group to explore effects of a mindfulness program for stress eating. We assessed mindfulness, psychological distress, eating behavior, weight, cortisol awakening response (CAR), and abdominal fat (by dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry) pre- and posttreatment. Treatment participants improved in mindfulness, anxiety, and external-based eating compared to control participants. Groups did not differ on average CAR, weight, or abdominal fat over time. However, obese treatment participants showed significant reductions in CAR and maintained body weight, while obese control participants had stable CAR and gained weight. Improvements in mindfulness, chronic stress, and CAR were associated with reductions in abdominal fat. This proof of concept study suggests that mindfulness training shows promise for improving eating patterns and the CAR, which may reduce abdominal fat over time.

Background

Little is known about modifications to highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART) initiated during acute or early HIV infection.

Methods

Reasons for first modifications of HAART regimens were recorded using the AIDS Clinical Trials Group form among 363 subjects who initiated HAART within 1 year of seroconversion from 2005 in the Acute Infection and Early Disease Research Program. Modifications recorded as due to “patient choice” or “physician choice” were clarified by query to the recording site. Times to events were analyzed by Kaplan–Meier methods; significance of differences was assessed by the log-rank test.

Results

Two hundred five of 363 (56%) subjects modified therapy, at a median of 425 days after initiation, by changing drugs, discontinuing treatment, or removing or adding drugs. Most modifications were attributed to toxicity (n = 105, 51%), most of which was low grade; regimen simplification (n = 18, 5%); and achievement of viral suppression (n = 15, 7%). Time to first modification was shorter for those with shorter time from infection to initiation (P = 0.005) and those having higher CD4 lymphocyte count at initiation (P = 0.06). Modifications occurred sooner in subjects receiving regimens taken more than once daily (P < 0.001) or with more than 2 pills daily (P < 0.001). Most regimens were nonnucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitor based or protease inhibitor based, and these did not differ significantly in rate and timing of modification.

Conclusions

HAART initiated early in HIV infection was modified in the majority of cases, usually due to minor toxicities whose incidence was similar for protease inhibitor–based and nonnucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitor–based regimens. Convenience of regimens (lower pill burden and dosing frequency) was associated with a lower rate of modification.

Acute HIV-1 infection is characterized by high levels of immune activation. Immunomodulation with Cyclosporin A combined with antiretroviral therapy (ART) in the setting of acute and early HIV-1 infection has been reported to result in enhanced immune reconstitution. Fifty-four individuals with acute and early infection were randomized to receive ART with 4 weeks of Cyclosporine A versus ART alone. In 48 subjects who completed the study, there were no significant differences between treatment arms in levels of proviral DNA or CD4+ T cell counts. Adjunctive therapy with Cyclosporine A in this setting does not provide apparent virologic or immunologic benefit.

The pathogenesis of human and simian immunodeficiency viruses is characterized by CD4+ T cell depletion and chronic T cell activation, leading ultimately to AIDS. CD4+ T helper (TH) cells provide protective immunity and immune regulation through different immune cell functional subsets, including TH1, TH2, T regulatory (Treg), and interleukin-17 (IL-17)–secreting TH17 cells. Because IL-17 can enhance host defenses against microbial agents, thus maintaining the integrity of the mucosal barrier, loss of TH17 cells may foster microbial translocation and sustained inflammation. Here, we study HIV-seropositive subjects and find that progressive disease is associated with the loss of TH17 cells and a reciprocal increase in the fraction of the immunosuppressive Treg cells both in peripheral blood and in rectosigmoid biopsies. The loss of TH17/Treg balance is associated with induction of indoleamine 2,3-dioxygenase 1 (IDO1) by myeloid antigen-presenting dendritic cells and with increased plasma concentration of microbial products. In vitro, the loss of TH17/Treg balance is mediated directly by the proximal tryptophan catabolite from IDO metabolism, 3-hydroxyanthranilic acid. We postulate that induction of IDO may represent a critical initiating event that results in inversion of the TH17/Treg balance and in the consequent maintenance of a chronic inflammatory state in progressive HIV disease.

We analyzed immune responses in chronically HIV-infected individuals who took part in a treatment interruption (TI) trial designed for patients who initiated anti-retroviral therapy within 6 months of seroconversion. In the two subjects that exhibited the best viral control, we detected CD8+ T cell responses against 1-2 Gag epitopes during the early weeks of TI and a subsequent increase in the number of epitopes recognized by the later time points. Each of these subjects developed mutations within the epitopes targeted by the highest magnitude responses. In the subject with the worst viral control, we detected responses against two Gag epitopes throughout the entire TI and no Gag mutations. The magnitude of these responses increased dramatically with time, greatly exceeding those detected in the virologic controllers. The highest levels of contemporaneous autologous neutralizing antibody activity were detected in the virologic controllers, and a subsequent escape mutation developed within the envelope gene of one controller that abrogated the response. These data suggest that immune escape mutations are a sign of viral control during TI, and that the absence of immune escape mutations in the presence of high-levels of viral replication indicates the lack of an effective host immune response.

Background

Transmitted HIV-1 drug resistance (TDR) is an ongoing public health problem, representing 10–20% of new HIV infections in many geographic areas. TDR usually arises from two main sources: individuals on antiretroviral therapy (ART) who are failing to achieve virologic suppression, and individuals who acquired TDR and transmit it while still ART-naïve. TDR rates can be impacted when novel antiretroviral medications are introduced that allow for greater virologic suppression of source patients. Although several new HIV medications were introduced starting in late 2007, including raltegravir, maraviroc, and etravirine, it is not known whether the prevalence of TDR was subsequently affected in 2008–2009.

Methodology/Principal Findings

We performed population sequence genotyping on individuals who were diagnosed with acute or early HIV (<6 months duration) and who enrolled in the Options Project, a prospective cohort, between 2002 and 2009. We used logistic regression to compare the odds of acquiring drug-resistant HIV before versus after the arrival of new ART (2005–2007 vs. 2008–2009). From 2003–2007, TDR rose from 7% to 24%. Prevalence of TDR was then 15% in 2008 and in 2009. While the odds of acquiring TDR were lower in 2008–2009 compared to 2005–2007, this was not statistically significant (odds ratio 0.65, 95% CI 0.31–1.38; p = 0.27).

Conclusions

Our study suggests that transmitted drug resistance rose from 2003–2007, but this upward trend did not continue in 2008 and 2009. Nevertheless, the TDR prevalence in 2008–2009 remained substantial, emphasizing that improved management strategies for drug-resistant HIV are needed if TDR is to be further reduced. Continued surveillance for TDR will be important in understanding the full impact of new antiretroviral medications.

Abstract

We screened 150 individuals from two recent seroconverter cohorts and found that six (4%) had CXCR4-using viruses. Clonal analysis of these six individuals, along with a seventh individual identified during clinical care as a recent seroconverter, revealed the presence of both X4- and dual-tropic variants in these recently infected adults. The ability of individual CXCR4-using variants to infect cells expressing CD4/CXCR4 or CD4/CCR5 varied dramatically. These data demonstrate that virus populations in some newly infected individuals can consist of either heterogeneous populations containing both CXCR4-using and CCR5-tropic viruses, or homogeneous populations containing only CXCR4-using viruses. The presence of CXCR4-using viruses at early stages of infection suggests that testing for viral tropism before using CCR5 antagonists may be important even in persons with known recent infection. The presence of CXCR4-using viruses in a subset of newly infected individuals could impact the efficacies of vaccine and microbicide strategies that target CCR5-tropic viruses.

HIV-Selectest is a serodiagnostic enzyme immunoassay (EIA), containing p6 and gp41 peptides, designed to differentiate between vaccine-induced antibodies and true infections. A rapid test version of the HIV-Selectest was developed. Both assays detected HIV antibodies in men and women within 2 to 4 weeks of infection, with sensitivity similar to third-generation EIAs.

Little is known about the manipulation of IL-17 producing CD4+ T cells (TH17) on a per-cell basis in humans in vivo. Previous studies on the effects of IL-2 on IL-17 secretion in non-HIV models have shown divergent results. We hypothesized that IL-2 would mediate changes in IL-17 levels among recently HIV-1-infected adults receiving anti-retroviral therapy. We measured cytokine T cell responses to CD3/CD28, HIV-1 Gag, and CMV pp65 stimulation, and changes in multiple CD4+ T cell subsets. Those who received IL-2 showed a robust expansion of naive and total CD4+ T cell counts and T-reg counts. However, after IL-2 treatment, the frequency of TH17 cells declined, while counts of TH17 cells did not change due to an expansion of the CD4+ naïve T cell population (CD27+CD45RA+). Counts of HIV-1 Gag-specific T cells declined modestly, but CMV pp65 and CD3/CD28 stimulated populations did not change. Hence, in contrast with recent studies, our results suggest IL-2 is not a potent in vivo regulator of TH17 cell populations in HIV-1 disease. However, IL-2-mediated T-reg expansions may selectively reduce responses to certain antigen-specific populations, such as HIV-1 Gag.

Electronic supplementary material

The online version of this article (doi:10.1007/s10875-010-9432-3) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

Abstract

Natural killer (NK) cells can directly recognize virus-infected cells. Here, we demonstrate that NK cells also produce interferon (IFN)-γ in an HIV-1-specific, T cell-dependent manner. After stimulation of peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) from HIV-1-infected individuals with HIV-1-derived peptides, up to half of the IFN-γ-producing PBMCs are NK cells. These results indicate that T cell-dependent NK cell IFN-γ production can be important for immune control of HIV-1, and have implications for the interpretation of data from vaccine trials using ELISPOT and ELISA.

We measured T-cell responses to human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) cryptic epitopes encoded by regions of the viral genome not normally translated into viral proteins. T-cell responses to cryptic epitopes and to regions normally spliced out of the HIV-1 viral proteins Rev and Tat were detected in HIV-1-infected subjects.

Primary HIV-1 infection (PHI) is marked by a flu-like syndrome and high levels of viremia that decrease to a viral set point with the first emergence of virus-specific CD8+ T-cell responses. Here, we investigated in a large cohort of 527 subjects the immunodominance pattern of the first virus-specific cytotoxic T-lymphocyte (CTL) responses developed during PHI in comparison to CTL responses in chronic infection and demonstrated a distinct relationship between the early virus-specific CTL responses and the viral set point, as well as the slope of CD4+ T-cell decline. CTL responses during PHI followed clear hierarchical immunodominance patterns that were lost during the transition to chronic infection. Importantly, the immunodominance patterns of human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1)-specific CTL responses detected in primary, but not in chronic, HIV-1 infection were significantly associated with the subsequent set point of viral replication. Moreover, the preservation of the initial CD8+ T-cell immunodominance patterns from the acute into the chronic phase of infection was significantly associated with slower CD4+ T-cell decline. Taken together, these data show that the specificity of the initial CTL response to HIV is critical for the subsequent control of viremia and have important implications for the rational selection of antigens for future HIV-1 vaccines.