Presence of IgG anti-gp160/120 antibodies confers higher HIV capture capacity to erythrocytes from HIV-positive individuals.
BACKGROUND
HIV binding has been demonstrated in erythrocytes from HIV-positive and HIV-negative individuals. However, the presence of immunoglobulins G anti-HIV (IgG anti-HIV) in erythrocytes from HIV-positive individuals is still to be elucidated. Moreover, the capacity of erythrocytes from HIV-positive individuals to capture an additional amount of HIV has not been studied. Indeed, it is unknown if HIV binding to erythrocytes in HIV-positive persons could have consequences on the cell-free infectious virus available.


RESULTS
IgGs anti-HIV associated to erythrocytes were found in 77.3% (58/75) of the HIV-positive individuals studied and the IgGs anti-gp160 and anti-p24 were the most frequently found. We found a positive association between detectable plasma viral load (pVL) and presence of IgGs anti-HIV associated to erythrocyte (p<0.005), though the anti-p24/160 were present with or without detectable pVL. The HIV capture capacity was higher in erythrocytes from HIV-positive than HIV-negative individuals (p<0.0001). Furthermore, among the HIV-positive individuals the higher viral capture capacity was associated with the presence of anti-gp160/gp120 on erythrocytes. Moreover, the viral capture by erythrocytes was independent of pVL (rho=0.022, p=0.8817). Additionally, reduction of cell-free infectious virus and available viral load was observed in the presence of erythrocytes from HIV-positive individuals.


CONCLUSIONS
Results suggest that in HIV-positive individuals, erythrocytes are capable of capturing high amounts of HIV by the presence of IgGs anti-gp160/120 on their membranes and this may produce a reduction in the available free virus. Finally, the current measurement of pVL would underestimate the real viral quantity due to the HIV binding through specific antibodies to erythrocytes.
National Reference Center for AIDS, Microbiology Department, School of Medicine, University of Buenos Aires, Buenos Aires, Argentina. mnoegarcia@gmail.com
Maria Noé
MN
Garcia
Maria Sol
MS
dos Ramos Farias
Lucia
L
Fazzi
Daniel
D
Grasso
Roberto Daniel
RD
Rabinovich
Maria Mercedes
MM
Ávila
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D045744:Cell Line, Tumor; D003165:Complement System Proteins; D004912:Erythrocytes / Q000166:cytology / Q000821:virology*; D015483:HIV Antibodies / Q000276:immunology*; D015699:HIV Envelope Protein gp120 / Q000378:metabolism*; D019302:HIV Envelope Protein gp160 / Q000378:metabolism*; D015658:HIV Infections / Q000276:immunology* / Q000378:metabolism; D006679:HIV Seropositivity; D006801:Humans; D007074:Immunoglobulin G / Q000737:chemistry / Q000276:immunology*; D008875:Middle Aged; D015233:Models, Statistical; D019562:Viral Load
D015483:HIV Antibodies; D015699:HIV Envelope Protein gp120; D019302:HIV Envelope Protein gp160; D007074:Immunoglobulin G; D003165:Complement System Proteins