CD95L-mRNA levels in freshly isolated T cells from 11 HIV-1⁺ children before and after 8 weeks of therapy with new or additional reverse transcriptase inhibitors (12 treatment courses). Response to treatment was classified either according to the reduction in HIV-1 plasma viral load achieved at that time point or based on clinical and immunologic observations ([•] good response, <1.0 log₁₀ copies/mL reduction in viral load; [○] poor response, <1.0 log₁₀ copies/mL reduction in viral load). Mean CD95L-mRNA levels after 8 weeks of therapy were significantly lower than before therapy (P < .001; two-tailed paired Student's t-test). HIV-1 plasma viremia was determined using either a commercially available polymerase chain reaction kit (Amplicor Monitor; Roche Diagnostics, Grenzach-Whylen, Germany) or a sensitive second generation branched-chain DNA (bDNA) assay (Quantiplex HIV RNA 2.0 Assay; Chiron Diagnostics, Ferning, Germany) as recommended by the manufacturer.