Abstract
The aim of this study was to examine the dynamic changes in monocyte/macrophage- and dendritic cell (DC)-related immune activation in people with HIV (PWH) before switching to long-acting (LA) injectable cabotegravir (CAB) plus rilpivirine (RPV) (T0), after six (T6m) and twelve months (T12m). A total of 30 aviremic PWH switching to LA CAB plus RPV, and 32 healthy donors (HDs) were enrolled. At each time point, in comparison to HDs, PWH exhibited higher classical and intermediate monocyte counts and lower slanDC and pDC counts. Compared to HDs, in PWH non-classical monocyte counts were higher only at T0. PWH exhibited elevated sCD163 and sCD14 plasmatic levels at each time point, in comparison to HDs. No virological failure was observed. At T12m, no differences in the total cell-associated HIV-1 DNA levels compared to T0 were found. The longitudinal evaluation showed a significant reduction in non-classical and intermediate monocyte counts at T12m compared to T0 and an increase in classical monocyte and pDC counts. Furthermore, a reduction in sCD14 plasma levels was observed. The constant drug concentrations provided by CAB plus RPV injections appear to be effective for a sustained and deep virological suppression that may reduce monocyte/macrophage activation in PWH.
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The data that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author, upon reasonable request.
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The authors highly acknowledge the contribution of the entire healthcare staff at SM Goretti Hospital, Latina and Prof. Frida Leonetti and Prof. Riccardo Lubrano for logistic assistance.
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Project Sapienza fund n° B83C24007070005, PhD “Advances in Infectious Diseases, Microbiology, Legal Medicine and Public Health Science” found for student’s activities.
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M.A. Z.: conceptualization, methodology, writing – original draft; M. G.: investigation, data curation, formal analysis; A. C.: investigation, resources, data curation; E. T.: investigation, data curation; F. D.: investigation, data curation; M. A.: investigation, data curation; C. D. B.: resources, data curation; R. M.: resources, data curation; G. M.: resources, data curation; L. A.: resources, data curation; P. P.: resources, data curation; L. B.: resources, data curation; S. V.: validation, writing - review and editing; F. M.: validation, data curation; R. C.: data curation, formal analysis; O. T.: supervision, validation; M. R. C.: supervision, writing – review and editing; C. M. M.: supervision, writing – review and editing; M. L.: conceptualization, supervision, validation, writing – review and editing, funding acquisition. All authors reviewed the manuscript.
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The study was approved by the Local Ethics Committee Lazio Area 1 (study number: 57.23, protocol number ID 0068623) and conducted in accordance with the Declaration of Helsinki. Informed consent for participation in the study was obtained from each subject in writing.
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Zingaropoli, M.A., Guardiani, M., Carraro, A. et al. Dynamic changes of monocytes-related immune activation in people with HIV switching to long-acting injectable cabotegravir plus rilpivirine. Sci Rep (2026). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-026-44013-6
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-026-44013-6
