title: Increased fetal hemoglobin levels in patients infected with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV1/2).
abstract: Fetal hemoglobin was measured in HIV1/2 patients under treatment with combined therapy (zidovudine and a protease inhibitor). A total of 143 patients and 103 normal individuals were investigated by the quantitative method of Betke and the semi-quantitative acid elution method of Kleihauer. In the normal person, hemoglobin F makes up less than 1% and an increase higher than 1.5% was observed in 21.4% of HIV patients by the method of Betke and in 24.8% of HIV-infected patients by the method of Kleihauer. The quantitative biochemical method of Betke showed that the populations were significantly different (two-tailed Mann-Whitney test). The reason for this hemoglobin F increase might be ascribed to the effect of zidovudine or to direct viral action on gamma chain expression. The finding of a higher F cell frequency indicated by the method of Kleihauer rather suggests that there is an increased F cell clone proliferation rather than an increase in hemoglobin F level in every cell.
authors.affiliation: Seção de Hematologia, Divisão de Patologia, Instituto Adolfo Lutz, São Paulo, SP, Brasil.
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Poli-Neto
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Nonoyama
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Oshiro
authors.forename: W
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Ebner-Filho
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Miguita
authors.forename: T M
authors.initials: TM
authors.lastname: Medeiros
authors.forename: C I
authors.initials: CI
authors.lastname: Watanabe
authors.forename: O C
authors.initials: OC
authors.lastname: Barretto
mesh_terms: D019380:Anti-HIV Agents / Q000627:therapeutic use; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D016009:Chi-Square Distribution; D015672:Erythroid Precursor Cells / Q000187:drug effects; D005319:Fetal Hemoglobin / Q000032:analysis* / Q000378:metabolism; D015658:HIV Infections / Q000097:blood* / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000378:metabolism; D017320:HIV Protease Inhibitors / Q000627:therapeutic use; D006801:Humans; D018709:Statistics, Nonparametric; D015215:Zidovudine / Q000627:therapeutic use
chemical_list: D019380:Anti-HIV Agents; D017320:HIV Protease Inhibitors; D015215:Zidovudine; D005319:Fetal Hemoglobin