Changes in the levels of T-cell oligoclonality following induction of HAART during primary HIV infection.

The level of oligoclonality was determined for each TCRBV family by using HMA, as described.28 (A) HMA gel hybridized with Cβb- and Cβc-carrier–specific probes showing variations in heteroduplex patterns for 26 TCRBV families and subfamilies in patient 1166, prior to and after initiation of HAART. (B) Computerized densitometric analysis of the HMA autoradiogram shown in panel A. Triangles indicate discrete TCRBV heterocomplexes detected over the HMA profiles with the use of automated peak discrimination as described in “Materials and methods.” TCRBV heterocomplex patterns prior to (TCRBV A) and after (TCRBV B) therapy for each β chain V-region family from patient 1166 are shown. The actual number of peaks detected appears in the bottom right corner. (C) Summary of clonality analysis in patients 1166, 1168, 1155, and 1192. Numbers of detectable clonotypes are shown prior to and after the introduction of HAART, while the decrease (closed boxes), stability (shaded boxes), or increase (open boxes) in the levels of oligoclonality of respective TCRBV families is indicated; nd indicates not done. Nomenclature of TCRBV families is according to Arden et al.31