Women Infected with HIV Type 1 Brazilian Variant, Subtype B (B′‐GWGR Motif) Have Slower Progression to AIDS, Compared with Patients Infected with Subtype B (B‐GPGR Motif)
1Laboratory of Allergy and Clinical and Experimental Immunology and 2Department of Preventive Medicine, University of São Paulo Medical School, 3Institute of Infectious Diseases Emílio Ribas, and 4Federal University of São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil
Introduction.
The Brazilian variant of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) type 1 (HIV‐1) subtype B (serotype B′‐GWGR) has a tryptophan replacing a proline in position 328 of the HIV‐1 envelope, a feature that may induce a different HIV disease progression. We aimed to evaluate the role of the B subtypes of HIV‐1 (serotypes B‐GPGR and B′‐GWGR) on HIV disease progression.
Methods.A total of 137 HIV‐infected individuals who had been admitted to the hospital were tested with an anti‐V3 serologic assay, using peptides representing 2 HIV‐1 subtype B strains, MN and SF2, and 2 Brazilian variant B′‐GWGR strains, BR1 and BR2.
Results.Of 137 serum samples tested with the anti‐V3 serologic assay, 4 (3%) yielded indeterminate results, 74 (54%; from 25 women and 49 men) were found to be B‐GPGR, and 59 (43%; from 20 women and 39 men) were found to be the B′‐GWGR variant. In general, a longer interval from the first known positive HIV test result to an AIDS‐defining event was observed in the B′‐GWGR group than in the B‐GPGR group (21 vs. 7 months). The CD4+ T cell counts were higher in the B′‐GWGR group (median CD4+ T cell count, 65 vs. 31 cells/mm3; 
), and women infected with the B′‐GWGR variant were less likely to die than were men infected with the same variant (
). The median viral load in the B′‐GWGR group was 3.395 copies/mL, compared with 39.350 copies/mL in the B‐GPGR group (
).
Conclusions.Taken together, our results indicate that B′‐GWGR–infected women may have more‐favorable outcomes than B‐GPGR–infected subjects.
Received 24 April 2006; accepted 7 August 2006; electronically published 26 October 2006.
Cited by
Online publication date: 1-Nov-2008.
CrossRef
Online publication date: 1-Oct-2007.
CrossRef