Recent thymic emigrants can be identified by T cell receptor excision circles (TRECs) formed during T-cell receptor rearrangement. Decreasing numbers of TRECs have been observed with aging and in human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-1 infected individuals, suggesting for thymic impairment. Here, we show that in healthy individuals, declining thymic output will affect the TREC content only when accompanied by naive T-cell division. The rapid decline in TRECs observed during HIV-1 infection and the increase following HAART are better explained not by thymic impairment, but by changes in peripheral T-cell division rates. Our data indicate that TREC content in healthy individuals is only indirectly related to thymic output, and in HIV-1 infection is mainly affected by immune activation.

doi.org/10.1038/79549, hdl.handle.net/1765/56228
Nature Medicine
Department of Immunology

Hazenberg, M. D., Otto, S., Stuart, J. W. T. C., Verschuren, M., Borleffs, J. W., Boucher, C., Coutinho, R., Lange, J., Rinke de Wit, T., Tsegaye, A., van Dongen, J., Hamann, D., de Boer, R.& Miedema, F. (2000). Increased cell division but not thymic dysfunction rapidly affects the T-cell receptor excision circle content of the naive T cell population in HIV-1 infection. Nature Medicine, 6(9), 1036–1042.https://doi.org/10.1038/79549