The Effects of Anti-HIV Drugs in HIV-Infected Patients Who Do Not Have AIDS

Immunopathogenesis objectives: To compare and quantitatively determine HIV burden and HIV replication in peripheral blood (PB) and lymphoid tissue (LT). To determine the degree to which antiretroviral therapy alters HIV replication in LT. Clinical objectives: To gain insight into the degree of correlation between immunologic surrogate markers for HIV disease (e.g., CD4, beta-2 microglobulin) as compared to measures of HIV replication in PB and LT. To assess changes in PB and LT viral burden after antiretroviral therapy and to determine its ability to predict an antiviral response. One of the major problems in defining the immunopathogenic changes in HIV infections has been the inability to correlate the extent of loss of immunologic function with the number of HIV-infected CD4+ cells in the peripheral blood. Few studies exist that measure viral burden in lymph nodes of HIV-infected individuals. Researchers hope to find out whether the amount of HIV virus or markers for the virus in the body's lymph tissue is a better measure of disease progression than the amount of virus or markers for the virus in the blood. One of the major problems in defining the immunopathogenic changes in HIV infections has been the inability to correlate the extent of loss of immunologic function with the number of HIV-infected CD4+ cells in the peripheral blood. Few studies exist that measure viral burden in lymph nodes of HIV-infected individuals. Researchers hope to find out whether the amount of HIV virus or markers for the virus in the body's lymph tissue is a better measure of disease progression than the amount of virus or markers for the virus in the blood. Sixteen antiretroviral-naive patients are randomized to either remain antiretroviral-naive (no treatment) or receive zidovudine daily (treatment). Additionally, 16 patients with 26 or more weeks of ongoing zidovudine (AZT) therapy are randomized to either continue on their prestudy AZT regimen or add didanosine (ddI) daily to their baseline AZT dose. Patients remain on their assigned treatment arms for 8 weeks. A lymph node biopsy is performed on day 0 and at week 8. Patients are evaluated at weeks 2, 4, 6, 8 and 9.