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. 2011 Jan 27;6(1):e15738.
doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0015738.

Increased rate of CD4+ T-cell decline and faster time to antiretroviral therapy in HIV-1 subtype CRF01_AE infected seroconverters in Singapore

Oon Tek Ng  1 , Li Lin, Oliver Laeyendecker, Thomas C Quinn, Yong Jiang Sun, Cheng Chuan Lee, Yee Sin Leo
Affiliations

Increased rate of CD4+ T-cell decline and faster time to antiretroviral therapy in HIV-1 subtype CRF01_AE infected seroconverters in Singapore

Oon Tek Ng et al. PLoS One. .

Abstract

Background: It remains controversial as to whether HIV-1 subtypes influence disease progression. Singapore offers a unique opportunity to address this issue due to the presence of co-circulating subtypes. We compared subtype CRF01_AE and non-CRF01_AE infected patients, with regards to estimated annual rate of CD4+ T-cell loss and time from estimated data of seroconversion (EDS) to antiretroviral therapy (ART).

Methods: We recruited ART-naive patients with known dates of seroconversion between October 2002 and December 2007 at the Singapore Communicable Disease Centre, the national reference treatment centre. Multilevel mixed-effects models were used to analyse the rate of CD4+ T-cell decline. Time from EDS to ART was analyzed with the Kaplan-Meier survival method and compared with Cox proportional hazards models.

Results: 54 patients with previously assigned HIV-1 subtypes (24 CRF01_AE, 17 B, 8 B', 1 CRF33_01B, 3 CRF34_01B and 1 G) were observed for 89 patient-years. Subtype CRF01_AE and non-CRF01_AE infected patients did not differ in age, gender, risk factor, rate of symptomatic seroconversion, baseline CD4+ T-cell count, log(10) viral load or haemoglobin concentration. The estimated annual rate of CD4+ T-cell loss was 58 cells/mm(3)/year (95% CI: 7 to 109; P = 0.027) greater in subtype CRF01_AE infected patients compared to non-CRF01_AE patients, after adjusting for age, baseline CD4+ T-cell count and baseline log(10) viral load. The median time from EDS to ART was 1.8 years faster comparing CRF01_AE to non-CRF01_AE infected patient with a 2.5 times (95% CI: 1.2-5.0; P = 0.013) higher hazard for ART initiation, after controlling for age, baseline CD4+ T-cell count and baseline log(10) viral load.

Conclusions: Infecting subtype significantly impacted the rate of CD4+ T-cell loss and time to treatment in this cohort. Studies to understand the biological basis for this difference could further our understanding of HIV pathogenesis.

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Conflict of interest statement

Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1. Cumulative proportion of HIV-1 patients initiating antiretroviral therapy by infecting subtype.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

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