Ayele Workenesh, Mekonnen Yared, Messele Tsehaynesh, Mengistu Yohannes, Tsegaye Aster, Bakker Margreet, Berkhout Ben, Dorigo-Zetsma Wendelien, Wolday Dawit, Goudsmit Jaap, Coutinho Roel, de Baar Michel, Paxton William A, Pollakis Georgios
Ethiopian Health and Nutrition Research Institute (EHNRI), Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
AIDS Res Hum Retroviruses. 2010 Jul;26(7):805-13. doi: 10.1089/aid.2009.0152.
Two HIV-1 subtype C subclusters have been identified in Ethiopia (C and C') with little knowledge regarding their biological or clinical differences. We longitudinally monitored HIV-1 viral loads and CD4(+) T cell counts for 130 subtype C-infected individuals from Ethiopia over 5 years. The genetic subclusters C and C' were determined and comparisons were made between the groups. None of the study individuals received antiretroviral therapy. Subcluster C' was found to be the more prevalent (72.3%) genotype circulating. Individuals infected with subcluster C' harbored higher viral loads in comparison to subcluster C-infected individuals when the CD4(+) T cell counts were high (500-900 cells/mm(3)), whereas at low CD4(+) T cell counts (0-150 cells/mm(3)) individuals infected with subcluster C viruses showed higher viral loads. We identified a greater number of deaths among individuals infected with subcluster C viruses in comparison to C'. Our results indicate that infection with subcluster C viruses leads to a more rapid onset of disease, despite the initial lower HIV-1 RNA plasma loads. Additionally, the higher viral loads seen for HIV-1 subcluster C' infections at higher CD4(+) T cell counts can help explain the higher prevalence of this subtype in Ethiopia.
在埃塞俄比亚已鉴定出两种HIV-1 C亚型亚群（C和C'），但对它们的生物学或临床差异知之甚少。我们对130名来自埃塞俄比亚的C亚型感染个体进行了为期5年的HIV-1病毒载量和CD4(+) T细胞计数的纵向监测。确定了基因亚群C和C'，并在两组之间进行了比较。所有研究个体均未接受抗逆转录病毒治疗。发现亚群C'是流行更广泛的（72.3%）循环基因型。当CD4(+) T细胞计数较高（500 - 900个细胞/mm(3)）时，与感染亚群C的个体相比，感染亚群C'的个体病毒载量更高，而在CD4(+) T细胞计数较低（0 - 150个细胞/mm(3)）时，感染亚群C病毒的个体病毒载量更高。与感染亚群C'的个体相比，我们发现感染亚群C病毒的个体死亡人数更多。我们的结果表明，尽管最初HIV-1血浆RNA载量较低，但感染亚群C病毒会导致疾病更快发作。此外，在较高CD4(+) T细胞计数时HIV-1亚群C'感染中出现的较高病毒载量有助于解释该亚型在埃塞俄比亚的较高流行率。
