Lack of correlation between seminal and plasma HIV-1 viral loads is associated with CD4 T cell depletion in therapy-naïve HIV-1+ patients.
The present study was conducted to investigate a possible correlation between plasma (PVL) and seminal viral load (SVL) on treatment-naïve HIV-1-infected patients in Vitória, ES, Brazil. We also evaluated whether the progressive immunosuppression associated with HIV disease (as evidenced by declining CD4 T cell counts) has any impact on the correlation between PVL and SVL HIV-1. Viral load on paired blood and semen samples from 56 consecutive treatment-naïve patients were evaluated and compared to CD4 cell counts. Viral load and T cell counts (cells/microl) were determined by NASBA and by flow cytometry, respectively. Overall, a strong positive correlation between PVL and SVL (rho = 0.438, p = 0.001) was observed. However, when patients were grouped according to their CD4 counts, this correlation was only significant among patients with CD4 counts > 200 cells/microl. Results presented here demonstrate the existence of a strong correlation between PVL and SVL on patients with CD4 cell counts > 200 cells/microl, suggesting that this association may correlate with disease progression.
Pinto-Neto
Lauro F S
LF
Santa Casa de Misericordia de Vitoria, Vitória, ES, Brasil.
Vieira
Nilo F R
NF
Soprani
Moacir
M
Cunha
Carla B
CB
Dietze
Reynaldo
R
Ribeiro-Rodrigues
Rodrigo
R
D018791:CD4 Lymphocyte Count; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D018450:Disease Progression; D015658:HIV Infections / Q000097:blood / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000821:virology*; D015497:HIV-1; D006801:Humans; D008212:Lymphocyte Depletion; D008297:Male; D012661:Semen / Q000821:virology*; D018709:Statistics, Nonparametric; D019562:Viral Load