Important note: Information in this article was accurate in August 2002. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.AIDSWEEKLY Plus; August 26, 2002
Michael Greer, Senior Medical Writer
"The humoral immune response of the human host against the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) type 1 (HIV-1) envelope glycoproteins comprises virus-neutralizing antibodies (NAs), antibody-dependent cellular cytotoxicity-mediating (ADCC) antibodies, and infection-enhancing antibodies (IEAs)," according to Ramu A. Subbramanian and colleagues working at the University of Montreal.
Surprisingly, the infection-enhancing antibodies appear to make up most of the humoral response to HIV, Subbramanian and coauthors found.
The researchers examined the effects of serum on HIV infection efficiency. Viral infectivity was enhanced in more than 70% of serum samples after the addition of complement, even though most of these samples also contained NAs or ADCC antibodies, they said.
Patients with low CD4 cell counts tended to have higher levels of IE antibodies, study data showed. These patients also tended to have low levels of virus-suppressing antibodies.
The presence of ADCC - but not NA - antibodies in serum was associated with viral neutralization in the presence of complement (Comparison of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-specific infection-enhancing and -inhibiting antibodies in AIDS patients. Journal of Clinical Microbiology 2002 Jun;40(6):2141-2146).
"These results show that the anti-HIV-1 humoral immune response consists of a mixture of antibodies that may inhibit or enhance HIV infection and whose ratios may vary in different stages of the infection," Subbramanian and colleagues concluded.
The corresponding author for this report is Ali Ahmad, Hopital St. Justine, Center of Research, Laboratory of Immunovirology, 3175 Cote St. Catherine, Montreal, PQ H3T 1C5, Canada. E-mail: ahmada@justine.umontreal.ca.
Key points reported in this study include:
This article was prepared by AIDS Weekly editors from staff and other reports.
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