Reduction of anti-HIV antibody responses in subjects receiving antiretroviral therapy during chronic HIV-1 infection

• Published in: Journal of clinical virology Vol. 128; p. 104414
• Main Authors: Liang, Yuanhao, Li, Linghua, Shui, Jingwei, Hu, Fengyu, Wang, Haiying, Xia, Yang, Cai, Weiping, Tang, Shixing
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Netherlands Elsevier B.V 01.07.2020
• Subjects: Anti-HIV antibodies; Antiretroviral therapy; Chronic HIV-1infection; Luciferase immunosorbent assay; Viral loads; Chronic HIV-1infection; Anti-HIV antibodies; Luciferase immunosorbent assay; Antiretroviral therapy; Viral loads
• ISSN: 1386-6532; 1873-5967; 1873-5967
• DOI: 10.1016/j.jcv.2020.104414

•Antiretroviral therapy reduces anti-HIV antibody responses in chronic HIV-infected patients.•Timing of ART initiation and baseline anti-HIV levels influence the decline of anti-HIV antibodies.•ART-induced reduction of anti-HIV antibodies correlates with the decline of HIV-1 viral load.•Quantitative anti-HIV antibody measurement may be a biomarker of the efficacy of ART. Antiretroviral therapy (ART) can lead to a decline or absence of anti-HIV antibodies in HIV-infected children or acutely HIV-infected (AHI) subjects. However, the characteristics of anti-HIV antibody response in the subjects who are treated during chronic HIV-1 infection (CHI) have not yet been fully investigated. Different anti-HIV antibodies were longitudinally quantified and analyzed in 81 CHI adults under ART. The factors associated with antibody decline were evaluated by binary logistic regression analysis. ART led to 36.0% (27/75) and 52.1% (38/73) of the patients whose anti-HIV levels reduced by more than 75% of the baseline levels at 12 and 24 months post-ART, respectively. The reduction of anti-HIV antibodies correlated with the decline of HIV-1 viral load with correlation coefficients in the range 0.556−0.848 or R2 value of 0.576−0.873 (P < 0.001). However, no negative detection of anti-HIV antibody was observed at 24 months post-ART. The time from HIV-1 diagnosis to ART initiation and the baseline anti-HIV levels were the key factors associated with quick decline of anti-HIV antibodies during ART. Conclusions: ART-induced kinetics of anti-HIV antibody response was different among the subjects with AHI and CHI. Misdiagnosis of HIV-1 infection may not be a serious issue in HIV-1 chronically infected subjects under ART, and could ideally be avoided by using multiple HIV-1 antigens for screening purposes.