Incomplete Immune Reconstitution and Traditional Chinese Medicine in Patients with HIV/AIDS: Challenges and Perspectives

Xue Ding,1,* Leilei Fan,2,* Liran Xu,3 Xiuxia Ma,4 Pengfei Meng,4 Jie Li,4 Jiahe Li,3 Jingyu Yue4 1Department of Medicine, The First Affiliated Hospital of Henan University of Chinese Medicine, Zhengzhou, People’s Republic of China; 2Department of Cardiovascular, The First People’s Hospital of Zhengzhou, Zhengzhou, People’s Republic of China; 3Department of the First Clinical Medical College, Henan University of Chinese Medicine, Zhengzhou, People’s Republic of China; 4Department of AIDS Clinical Research Center, The First Affiliated Hospital of Henan University of Chinese Medicine, Zhengzhou, People’s Republic of China*These authors contributed equally to this workCorrespondence: Jingyu Yue, Department of AIDS Clinical Research Center, The First Affiliated Hospital of Henan University of Chinese Medicine, 19 Renmin Road, Zhengzhou, People’s Republic of China, Email [email protected]: Antiretroviral therapy can reduce human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) load to undetectable levels and restore CD4+ T cells to rebuild immune function in patients with HIV. However, some patients fail to achieve immune reconstitution despite treatment. Traditional Chinese medicine is an important branch of complementary and alternative medicine for the treatment of HIV infection, and a growing number of studies has demonstrated that traditional Chinese medicine can increase CD4+ T cell counts in patients, thereby promoting immune reconstitution, ameliorating symptoms and signs, and improving quality of life. Here, we review pathogenesis in immunological non-responders and research into their treatment with traditional Chinese medicine. Furthermore, we summarize potential future research directions, including elucidation of how traditional Chinese medicine can regulate CD4+ T cells to reduce opportunistic infections and improve quality of life in immunological non-responders.Keywords: immunological non-responders, drug mechanism, traditional Chinese medicine, future research directions