Phenotype and function of B cells in children infected with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)

Hardly anything is known about the development of antigen-specific memory B cell responses to pathogens in children who are subject to profound dysregulation of the B-cell compartment due to infection with HIV. Infants and children are still in the process to acquire immunity to a wide variety of common pathogens including Plasmodium falciparum in malaria endemic areas. The proposed study will determine to which degree children infected with HIV maintain specific memory B cells responses to common childhood pathogens and vaccines before and after co-trimoxazole prophylaxis compared to HIV-uninfected children. In addition, we will establish whether co-trimoxazole prophylaxis has a beneficial effect on antigen-specific B-cell memory responses in HIV-infected children. We expect that results from this study will provide evidence whether or not co-trimoxazole prophylaxis is sufficient to arrest HIV-induced B cell dysregulation thus allowing infants and children to acquire humoral immunity to a variety of childhood infection.