Recombinate study
In the Recombinate study of previously treated patients, we have followed 67 patients (the majority of them were adults or adolescents) for as long as 5.5 years, although a majority of patients have been on study for a shorter period of time. As part of the research protocol, T-cell phenotype analyses have been carried out prospectively from baseline through to the present time. A superficial analysis had been carried out on this data some time back, but now a somewhat more detailed analysis has been done. Overall there are 67 individuals, with a mean age of 26.5 years. There were 23 HIV negatives, the rest being HIV positive. At the time of entry no patients were moving towards end-stage HIV-disease; a positive prognosis was a criterion for enrollment. There were 59 patients tested for CD4s at baseline. Testing was done by local laboratories rather than at a central lab. Of this group 19 HIV-negative patients were studied, but they are not the subject of this paper. There were 40 HIVpositive patients analyzed, with mean CD4s at baseline of 428 and a range in absolute numbers as wide as 271136. Looking at the group of 40 patients as a whole, there was a general change, a drop in CD4 numbers over the period of the study. CD8s tended to increase very slightly, and the CD4/CD8 ratio tended to be the most stable of these three parameters monitored. However, on looking at this in more detail it became apparent that age is a co-factor for HIV disease progression; we know that children and adolescents move more slowly through the HIV disease process, and that elderly individuals move more rapidly this has been reported by a number of groups. In addition, it appears that CD4 numbers may also be associated with rapidity of progression. We therefore decided to look at our numbers and compare them with those reported by de Biasi and his group in the October, 1991, issue of Blood. They had selected their patients, 20 individuals, according to age and CD4 numbers at entry, and then randomized them to receive either the Hemofil-M high-purity product or an intermediate-purity concentrate. So we had a look at our HIV-positive Recombinate patients, particular patients between 12 and 36 years of age: there were 32,