Longosz AF, Morrison CS, Chen PL, Brand HH, Arts E, Nankya I, Salata RA, Quinn TC, Eshleman SH, Laeyendecker O. Comparison of antibody responses to HIV infection in Ugandan women infected with HIV subtypes A and D. AIDS Res Hum Retroviruses. 2015, 31: 421-7. PMC4378664
Abstract:
We compared the serologic response to HIV infection in Ugandan women with HIV subtype A (N=82) and D (N=32) infection using a limiting antigen avidity assay (LAg-Avidity assay); 2,614 samples were analyzed. Study participants were followed a median of 6.6 years after HIV seroconversion. Samples were classified as assay positive if they had a LAg-Avidity assay result <1.5 normalized optical density units (OD-n). Women with subtype D infection were more likely to have delayed antibody maturation. During the first 2 years after seroconversion, the mean time that women had an assay-positive result (mean duration of recent infection, MDRI) was longer for women with subtype D infection than women with subtype A infection (267.9 days, 95% CI: 231.2-308.2 vs. 167.3 days, 95% CI: 151.8-185.9 days, p<0.01). The MDRI was also longer for women with subtype D infection after excluding low viral load samples and samples from women on antiretroviral therapy (ART). Women infected for >2 years were also more likely to be misclassified as recently infected in they had subtype D infection. Women with subtype D infection were also more likely to have antibody waning compared to women with subtype A infection. These findings may be related to the higher pathogenicity of subtype D HIV infection and are relevant to use of the LAg-Avidity assay for cross-sectional HIV incidence estimation in populations where subtype D infection is prevalent.