title: Absence of antibodies to human herpesvirus-6 in patients with slowly-progressive human immunodeficiency virus type 1 infection.
abstract: To evaluate a possible role for Human Herpesvirus-type 6 (HHV-6) coinfection as a co-factor in the progression of HIV-1 disease, we investigated the prevalence of seropositivity for HHV-6 in a cohort of HIV-1 infected patients. These patients were retrospectively divided into two groups according to the decline of CD4+ T cells during the follow up: 11 were classified as rapid decliners (less than 400 CD4+/cmm within 1 year), and 38 as slow decliners (greater than 400 CD4+/cmm after at least 4 years' follow up). HHV-6 antibodies were detected by a commercial immunofluorescence assay and by a Western blotting assay developed in our laboratory. Our results show that Western blot appears to provide results satisfactorily free of false positivities. We found that the frequency of HHV-6 seropositivity was significantly lower in the group of slow decliners, compared both to rapid decliners and to the general population. These data suggest a role for HHV-6 co-infection in the progression of HIV-1 disease.
authors.affiliation: Capital Institute of Pediatrics, Beijing, China.
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.forename: A M
authors.initials: AM
authors.lastname: Pesce
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Carbonari
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Ensoli
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Cherchi
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Campitelli
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Sbarigia
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Luzi
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Aiuti
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Fiorilli
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000914:Antibodies, Viral / Q000032:analysis*; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D015658:HIV Infections / Q000276:immunology*; D015497:HIV-1 / Q000276:immunology*; D006566:Herpesviridae Infections / Q000276:immunology*; D015654:Herpesvirus 6, Human / Q000276:immunology*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D015995:Prevalence; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity
chemical_list: D000914:Antibodies, Viral