Viral and host factors associated with the HIV-1 viral load setpoint in adults from mbeya region, Tanzania

Elmar Saathoff*, Michael Pritsch, Christof Geldmacher, Oliver Hoffmann, Rebecca N. Koehler, Leonard Maboko, Lucas Maganga, Steffen Geis, Francine E. McCutchan, Gustavo H. Kijak, Jerome H. Kim, Miguel A. Arroyo, Martina Gerhardt, Sodsai Tovanabutra, Merlin L. Robb, Carolyn Williamson, Nelson L. Michael, Michael Hoelscher

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

18 Scopus citations

Abstract

Background: The viral load setpoint (VLS) is an important predictor of HIV disease progression, but there is a lack of information regarding the VLS and its possible determinants in African populations. Methods: Initially HIV-negative adults from 3 distinct groups (female bar workers, females, and males from the general population) were followed for up to 4 years. The VLS was calculated for 108 seroconverters and associations of the VLS with possible risk factors were analyzed using univariate and multivariate regression. Results: The median VLS for female bar workers, females, and males from the general population were 69,850, 28,600, and 158,000 RNA copies per milliliter, respectively. Significant associations with an elevated viral load were observed for male gender [risk ratio (RR) = 1.83, 95% confidence interval (95% CI) = 1.14 to 2.93], the expression of harmful HLA I alleles (RR = 1.73, 95% CI = 1.13 to 2.66) and multiple infection with different HIV-1 subtypes (RR = 1.65, 95% CI = 1.03 to 2.66). Bar workers were considerably more often infected with different HIV-1 subtypes than participants from the general population. Conclusions: Our study confirms that gender and the expression of different HLA class I alleles are important determinants of the viremia at VLS, and it also corroborates an earlier finding that multiple infection with different HIV-1 subtypes is associated with a higher VLS.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)324-331
Number of pages8
JournalJournal of Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndromes
Volume54
Issue number3
DOIs
StatePublished - 1 Jul 2010
Externally publishedYes

Keywords

  • Africa
  • HIV-1 infection
  • HLA class I alleles
  • acute infection
  • multiple infection
  • viral load setpoint

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