Objective To investigate the response on late stage Chinese AIDS patients after highly active antiretroviral therapy （HAART）. Methods From October 2002 to March 2004

20 cases of late stage Chinese AIDS patients were selected to particip-ate in this opened and randomised study

we purposely chose those with CD4+ T cell counts < 100/mm3. All of them had one or two opportunistic infections and none had been treated with anti-HIV drugs. All patients were tested with CD4+ （naive CD4+ T cell defined by CD45RA+ and CD62L+

memory CD4+ T cell defined by CD45RA-）

CD8+ T cell

plasma HIV viral load

and clinical manifestations on before

during

and after HAART （5 different regimes） on 1

3

6

9

and 12 months. Results Before HAART mean CD4+ T cell counts were 32 ± 31（range 2-91）/mm3

and plasma HIV viral load were 5.07 ± 0.85（range 2.04-5.70） log copies/mL. In 1 month’s time patients treated with HAART had mean CD4+ and CD8+ T cell counts increasing rapidly. After 1 month the increasing speed turned to slow down

but HIV viral load decreased predominantly within the first 3 months. The major part of increasing CD4+ T cells were memory CD4+ T cells

as for naive CD4+ T cells increasing low and slow. Clinical symptoms and signs improved

and opportunistic infections reduced. The quality of life will be far much better than before. Each patient was followed for 12 months

and had finished 12 months’ HAART. Conclusion This is the first report in China that late stage Chinese AIDS patients after HAART could have their immune reconstitution. The regular pattern is similar to what had been reported in Western countries and also in China. So it is worth to treat late stage Chinese AIDS patients with HAART.