Consistently, we observed less pronounced T cell abnormalities in subjects with anti-Tat IgM, who prospectively showed a decrease of HLA-DR+CD38+ and CD45RO+CD27+ CD4+ T cells (Fig. 4b and Additional file 4 respectively), a cell subset containing central and transitional memory cells (important viral reservoirs) and whose increased percentage correlated with progression to AIDS (data not shown). Here, CD38 is linked to AIDS.