@Article{ecn.2010.0199,
AUTHOR = {Giulia Della Chiara, Claudio Fortis, Giuseppe Tambussi, Guido Poli},
TITLE = {The rise and fall of intermittent interleukin-2 therapy in HIV infection},
JOURNAL = {European Cytokine Network},
VOLUME = {21},
YEAR = {2010},
NUMBER = {3},
PAGES = {197--201},
URL = {http://www.techscience.com/ECN/v21n3/65858},
ISSN = {1952-4005},
ABSTRACT = {In 1995, a breakthrough paper showed that intermittent cycles of interleukin-2 (IL-2), together
with suboptimal ART, caused an unprecedented, stable increase in CD4+ T cell counts, without altering the
steady state levels of viremia. At the time, this was somewhat obscured by the first successes of combination
antiretroviral therapy (cART). However, since then, numerous studies have confirmed this basic finding, open-ing
up a new perspective in the long-term management of chronic HIV infection. One of the benchmarks of
this experimental treatment is the expansion of CD4<sup>+</sup>
CD25<sup>+</sup> T lymphocytes probably including T regulatory
cells (Tregs). Based on these encouraging findings, two major phase III clinical trials, ESPRIT and SILCAAT,
involving thousands of patients worldwide, were launched and continued over several years. Unfortunately,
they both resulted in the highly unexpected, yet unequivocal, outcome of a lack of a protective effect of IL-2-expanded
CD4<sup>+</sup> T cells on HIV disease progression towards the acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS)
or death. In addition, there was the suggestion of an increase in certain deleterious effects on treated patients in
terms of cardiovascular and inflammatory events. While IL-2 therapy is unlikely to be studied any further in
the context of HIV infection, other cytokines, such as IL-7, are still being tested in the hope of more promising
results.},
DOI = {10.1684/ecn.2010.0199}
}