PCR quantitativa: Monitoraggio di terapie antiretrovirali in pazienti HIV+

In the management of HIV+ patients the choice of a therapy, or modification of an existing one, is based on the assessment of their clinical conditions as well as of plasmatic viraemia together with CD4+ lymphocyte count. This work describes the use of quantitative competitive RT-PCR for plasmatic viral RNA measurements during antiretroviral therapy or during chemotherapy in HIV+ patients without or with non-Hodgkin's lymphoma. CD4+/mm³ count was also determined in the same patients. We discuss the results obtained on the basis of the important prognostic value of both these markers and on the clinical impact of the therapy. Chemotherapy, besides the expected reduction of CD4+ lymphocytes, induces an increase in viraemia. This observation suggests that the use of antiviral treatment may be appropriate in association with antibiastic treatment for non-Hodgkin's lymphoma in HIV+ patients.