CD4 and HIV-1 infection: Studies in patients with primary HIV-1 infection and advanced HIV-1 disease have demonstrated that early levels of HIV-1 DNA load in peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) and in CD4+ T-cells have a predictive value for long-term virological outcome and for disease progression, independently of CD4 counts and plasma viral RNA load [19], [20], [21], [22], [23], [24], [25], [26], [27], [28], [29], [30], [31], [32].