Medicine, September 2021.

Many studies from high-income countries have shown that HIV can linger in the body during HIV treatment, meaning that it is not completely eliminated from the body. However, there have been few reports from low- and middle-income countries (LMIC) investigating this phenomenon. NWCS425 aimed to determine how often HIV lingers in the body among individuals achieving very low levels of HIV while on treatment in LMIC. Researchers also conducted a comparison of the rate at which very low levels of HIV remains in the body between individuals in LMIC and the United States. The last available sample among participants living with HIV less than 400 copies/mL for at least three years from A5175 and A5208 were tested by using the method known as the HMMCgag single copy assay (SCA). Detectable HIV was defined as having ≥1 copy/mL. The study included 320 participants, including 246 (77%) from LMIC and 74 (23%) from the United States. NWCS425 found that 57 percent of all participants had HIV remaining in their body during HIV treatment. This percentage was similar among participants from LMIC (59%) and the United States (51%). The study also found that the only factor associated with HIV remaining in the body was more copies of HIV before beginning HIV treatment. This important finding indicates that the sooner antiretroviral treatment is initiated, the less HIV will remain in the body as latent reservoir. In addition, this study confirms that HIV reservoirs are similar regardless of where you live in the world. These results may help us design future cure studies that can be conducted throughout the world.

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