Anti-human immunodeficiency virus type 1 humoral immune response and highly active antiretroviral treatment

• Published in: Memórias do Instituto Oswaldo Cruz Vol. 102; no. 7
• Main Authors: Bongertz, Vera, Ouverney, E Priscilla, Fernandez, Saada Chequer, Grinsztejn, Beatriz, Veloso, Valdilea, Couto-Fernandez, José C, Pilotto, José H, Morgado, Mariza G
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Fundação Oswaldo Cruz, Fiocruz 05-03-2008
• Subjects: antibodies - seroreactivity - neutralization - antiretroviral treatment - treatment failure
• ISSN: 1678-8060

Highly active antiretroviral treatment(HAART) of human immunodeficiency
type 1 (HIV-1) infection is very effective in controlling infection,
but elimination of viral infection has not been achieved as yet, and
upon treatment interruption an immediate rebound of viremia is
observed. A combination of HAART with an immune stimulation might allow
treatment interruption without this rebounding viremia, as the very low
viremias observed with successful HAART may be insufficient to permit
maintenance of a specific anti-HIV-1 immune response. The objective of
this study was to compare the humoral immune response of individuals
undergoing successful HAART(NF=no failure) with that of individuals
with evidence of failure of therapy (FT) and to verify if the viremia
peaks observed in individuals with therapy failure would act as a
specific stimulus for the humoral anti-HIV-1 immune response.
Antibodies binding to gp120 V3 genotype consensus peptides were more
frequently observed for FT, mainly against peptides corresponding to
sequences of genotypes prevalent in the Rio de Janeiro city area, B and
F. HIV-1 neutralization of HIV-1 IIIB and of four primary isolates from
Rio de Janeiro was less frequently observed for plasma from the NF than
the FT group, but this difference was more expressive when plasma from
individuals with detectable viremia were compared to that of
individuals with undetectable viral loads in the year before sample
collection. Although statistically significant differences were
observed only in some specific comparisons, the study indicates that
presence of detectable viremia may contribute to the maintenance of a
specific anti-HIV-1 humoral immune response.