Structured treatment interruption in HIV infection.

Structured (and unstructured) treatment interruptions have been evaluated during well-controlled acute and chronic HIV infection and before multidrug salvage therapy. In the first 2 instances, the rationale for this strategy is to stimulate or preserve HIV-specific CD4 T cells and broadly directed cytotoxic T-lymphocyte responses. Before salvage therapy, treatment interruptions have led to the reemergence of drug-susceptible virus, at least in blood plasma. Although some evidence suggests beneficial immune stimulation with successive interruptions of therapy begun during acute infection, the long-term benefits of this strategy remain unproved in any clinical setting. The potential dangers of interrupting treatment--recrudescent acute retroviral syndrome, emergence of drug-resistant virus, substantial declines in CD4 T cells, and new or recurrent opportunistic infections--are not theoretic.