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. 2010 Jul;54(3):324-30.
doi: 10.1097/qai.0b013e3181cf30ba.

Viral and host factors associated with the HIV-1 viral load setpoint in adults from Mbeya Region, Tanzania

Elmar Saathoff  1 , Michael Pritsch, Christof Geldmacher, Oliver Hoffmann, Rebecca N Koehler, Leonard Maboko, Lucas Maganga, Steffen Geis, Francine E McCutchan, Gustavo H Kijak, Jerome H Kim, Miguel A Arroyo, Martina Gerhardt, Sodsai Tovanabutra, Merlin L Robb, Carolyn Williamson, Nelson L Michael, Michael Hoelscher
Affiliations

Viral and host factors associated with the HIV-1 viral load setpoint in adults from Mbeya Region, Tanzania

Elmar Saathoff et al. J Acquir Immune Defic Syndr. 2010 Jul.

Abstract

Background: The viral load setpoint (VLS) is an important predictor of HIV disease progression, but there is a lack of information regarding the VLS and its possible determinants in African populations.

Methods: Initially HIV-negative adults from 3 distinct groups(female bar workers, females, and males from the general population)were followed for up to 4 years. The VLS was calculated for 108 seroconverters and associations of the VLS with possible risk factors were analyzed using univariate and multivariate regression.

Results: The median VLS for female bar workers, females, and males from the general population were 69,850, 28,600, and 158,000 RNA copies per milliliter, respectively. Significant associations with an elevated viral load were observed for male gender [risk ratio(RR) = 1.83, 95% confidence interval (95% CI) = 1.14 to 2.93], the expression of harmful HLA I alleles (RR = 1.73, 95% CI = 1.13 to 2.66) and multiple infection with different HIV-1 subtypes (RR =1.65, 95% CI = 1.03 to 2.66). Bar workers were considerably more often infected with different HIV-1 subtypes than participants from the general population.

Conclusions: Our study confirms that gender and the expression of different HLA class I alleles are important determinants of the viremia at VLS, and it also corroborates an earlier finding that multiple infection with different HIV-1 subtypes is associated with a higher VLS.

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Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1. Viral load setpoint, multiple infection and presence of harmful HLA type 1 alleles
Only participants with complete assessments are included.
Figure 2
Figure 2. Median viral load over time in the three study groups
All participants with a VLS < 2000 copies/ml (VLS controllers) are graphed separately and their data was not included into their respective groups. Whiskers indicate non-parametric 95% confidence limits; numbers denote N for each group and time-range. Please note that data for later time-ranges are unreliable due to low participant numbers.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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