Comparison with data from the Multicenter AIDS Cohort Study (MACS) showed that the kinetics of CD4+ T cell loss was faster (Mann-Whitney U test , p = 0.02) than in untreated patients with early chronic HIV-1 infection (average loss of −67 cells/mm3/y in patients with a CD4+ T cell count of more than 350 cells/mm3 at baseline). Here, CD4 is linked to HIV-1 infection.