Department of Biochemistry, All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi, India.
Viral Immunol. 2011 Dec;24(6):463-9. doi: 10.1089/vim.2011.0039.
Limited information exists on the antibody responses elicited against the viral envelope in HIV-1-infected children. In this cross-sectional study, we assessed the antibody responses against three different immunogenic regions of HIV-1 envelope, namely V3 region of gp120, membrane proximal external region (MPER), and immunodominant loop (IDL) of gp41 in HIV-1-infected children from north India. We recruited 75 HIV-1-infected (40 antiretroviral naive and 35 treated) children, with age ranging from 1.5 to 16 y. Antibodies to V3 and the IDL region were found in a majority of the infected children, whereas antibodies to MPER were found in approximately one-third of the children studied. Higher antibody titers to the immunogenic regions corresponded to the symptomatic stages of HIV-1 infection in both naive and antiretroviral therapy (ART)-treated children. High titers of anti-V3C and anti-IDL antibodies were observed in a subset of antiretroviral-naive patients with suppressed viremia (<47 RNA copies/mL), suggesting that antibodies to these immunogenic regions are present regardless of their viremic status. Further, the antibody titers were significantly lower in the plasma of treated patients compared to naive patients, regardless of whether they were virologically suppressed or not. This is the first report on the antibody responses elicited in HIV-1-infected children in India. The study may help to understand the humoral antibody responses directed against viral envelope in HIV-1-infected children.
关于 HIV-1 感染儿童对病毒包膜产生的抗体反应，目前相关信息有限。在这项横断面研究中，我们评估了 HIV-1 包膜的三个不同免疫原性区域的抗体反应，即 gp120 的 V3 区、膜近端外区（MPER）和 gp41 的免疫优势环（IDL），研究对象为来自印度北部的 HIV-1 感染儿童。我们招募了 75 名 HIV-1 感染儿童（40 名未接受抗逆转录病毒治疗和 35 名接受治疗），年龄在 1.5 至 16 岁之间。大多数感染儿童体内都发现了针对 V3 和 IDL 区域的抗体，而大约三分之一的儿童体内发现了针对 MPER 的抗体。在未接受抗逆转录病毒治疗和接受抗逆转录病毒治疗（ART）的儿童中，针对免疫原性区域的抗体滴度与 HIV-1 感染的症状阶段相关。在病毒载量抑制（<47 RNA 拷贝/mL）的部分未接受抗逆转录病毒治疗的患者中，观察到高滴度的抗 V3C 和抗 IDL 抗体，这表明这些免疫原性区域的抗体存在于病毒血症状态。此外，与未接受抗逆转录病毒治疗的患者相比，接受治疗的患者血浆中的抗体滴度显著降低，无论他们是否病毒学抑制。这是印度首次报道 HIV-1 感染儿童产生的抗体反应。该研究有助于了解 HIV-1 感染儿童针对病毒包膜产生的体液抗体反应。
