The Use of Lymph Node Biopsies to Support HIV Pathogenesis Studies

April 27, 2026 updated by: University of California, San Francisco

HIV medicines have led to dramatic improvements in health. However, there remains a concern for potential drug toxicities, cost of drugs, and need for life-long treatment. In addition, research has found that health is not completely restored in HIV-infected patients, even if they have been taking effective HIV medicines for a long time. This may be due to direct drug-toxicity, continued replication of the virus, and/or inflammation of the body in response to the virus. Therefore, a more complete understanding of how HIV stays in the body is necessary.

Recent research has shown that one of the places that HIV can stay in the body is in lymphatic tissues such as lymph nodes (even in patients who have been taking HIV medicines for a long time). In addition, the amount of damage to the lymphatic tissues can predict how the immune system (CD4+ T cell count) will respond to therapy.

The investigators therefore propose a study in which lymph nodes from the groin area will be removed, with the goals of: 1) seeing how much HIV is in lymph nodes and 2) seeing how much damage has happened to the lymph node architecture.

Study Overview

Status

Recruiting

Conditions

Intervention / Treatment

Study Type

Observational

Enrollment (Estimated)

50

Contacts and Locations

This section provides the contact details for those conducting the study, and information on where this study is being conducted.

Study Contact

Study Locations

  • United States
    • California
      • San Francisco, California, United States, 94110
        • Recruiting
        • San Francisco General Hospital
        • Contact:
        • Principal Investigator:
          • Steven Deeks, MD

Participation Criteria

Researchers look for people who fit a certain description, called eligibility criteria. Some examples of these criteria are a person's general health condition or prior treatments.

Eligibility Criteria

Ages Eligible for Study

18 years to 70 years (Adult, Older Adult)

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Yes

Sampling Method

Non-Probability Sample

Study Population

We propose a study in which inguinal lymph node biopsies will be performed on HIV-infected and uninfected subjects, with the goals of: 1) quantifying and characterizing residual virus in lymph nodes and 2) quantifying and comparing lymph node architecture in untreated subjects, HAART-suppressed subjects, elite controllers, and HIV-negative subjects. This research study will permit a lymph node biopsy to be performed and peripheral blood to be obtained from patients with HIV disease. Subjects with HIV or without HIV infection who have no contraindications to lymph node biopsy will be invited to participate in this study.

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

  1. Able to give informed consent
  2. No contraindication to surgical procedures
  3. Palpable inguinal adenopathy at study entry
  4. For HIV seropositive subjects, meeting one of the following criteria: (1) on stable highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART) with a recent undetectable viral load (< 50 copies/mL) ("HAART suppressed"), (2) antiretroviral untreated with an undetectable viral load (< 50 copies/mL) ("elite" controllers), or (3) antiretroviral untreated with a detectable viral load (> 1000 copies/mL) ("non-controllers")

Exclusion Criteria:

  1. Known anemia (HIV+ males Hct<34; females Hct<32) or contraindication to donating blood
  2. Blood coagulation disorder (including bleeding tendency or problems in past with blood clots)
  3. Platelets < 50,000/mm3
  4. PTT > 2x ULN
  5. INR > 1.5
  6. Pregnant

Study Plan

This section provides details of the study plan, including how the study is designed and what the study is measuring.

How is the study designed?

Design Details

  • Observational Models: Case-Control
  • Time Perspectives: Cross-Sectional

Cohorts and Interventions

Group / Cohort
Intervention / Treatment
HIV negative
Procedure: Lymph node biopsy
Inguinal lymph node biopsy
HIV positive
Procedure: Lymph node biopsy
Inguinal lymph node biopsy

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Time Frame
HIV persistence
Time Frame: 1 year
1 year

Collaborators and Investigators

This is where you will find people and organizations involved with this study.

Sponsor

University of California, San Francisco

Collaborators

National Institutes of Health (NIH)

Investigators

  • Principal Investigator: Steven Deeks, MD, University of California, San Francisco

Study record dates

These dates track the progress of study record and summary results submissions to ClinicalTrials.gov. Study records and reported results are reviewed by the National Library of Medicine (NLM) to make sure they meet specific quality control standards before being posted on the public website.

Study Major Dates

Study Start

April 1, 2011

Primary Completion (Estimated)

April 1, 2030

Study Completion (Estimated)

April 1, 2030

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

September 9, 2010

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

September 13, 2010

First Posted (Estimated)

September 15, 2010

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Actual)

May 1, 2026

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

April 27, 2026

Last Verified

April 1, 2026

More Information

Terms related to this study

Keywords

Additional Relevant MeSH Terms

Other Study ID Numbers

  • 10-03606

This information was retrieved directly from the website clinicaltrials.gov without any changes. If you have any requests to change, remove or update your study details, please contact register@clinicaltrials.gov. As soon as a change is implemented on clinicaltrials.gov, this will be updated automatically on our website as well.

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