HIV progression, T-cell function. (Clinical Capsules).

A new study suggests that it is the quality, not the number, of HIV-fighting CD8 T cells that distinguish rare HIV nonprogressors from progressors.

The findings could have important implications for vaccine development, reported Dr. Stephen A. Migueles of the National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Md., and his colleagues.

The investigators studied the immune systems of 40 HIV patients, including 15 long-term nonprogressors or slow progressors whose disease had been controlled without antiretroviral therapy for up ...