Antibody responses to lytic and latent human herpesvirus 8 antigens among HIV-infected patients in central China

Abstract

Human herpesvirus 8 (HHV8) is an important opportunistic infection of HIV/AIDS. However, very little is known about antibody seropositivities to HHV8 lytic and latent antigens among HIV-infected patients in China. Therefore, a cross-sectional study was conducted to explore HHV8 serostatus among 316 HIV-infected patients in a rural area of central China. The antibody seropositivity to HHV8 ORF65 (lytic) and LANA (latent) antigens was 12.7% and 10.4%, respectively. Patients who were naïve to antiretroviral therapy (ART) were more likely to be seropositive for antibodies to ORF65 (OR: 3.79; 95% CI: 1.71-8.42) and LANA (OR: 3.77; 95% CI: 1.55-9.14) than patients receiving ART. Patients having CD4+ cell counts less than 200 cells/mm3 were more likely to be seropositive for LANA antibody (OR: 3.53; 95% CI: 1.44-8.64) and to have lower LANA antibody titer (p = 0.007). They were also more likely to be seropositive for ORF65 antibody (OR: 2.12; 95% CI: 0.94-4.78) and to have a lower ORF65 antibody titer (p = 0.065), though the difference was marginally significant. No associations between other viral coinfections studied and antibody seropositivity to either latent or lytic HHV8 antigens were identified. Study findings suggest that antibody responses to both lytic and latent HHV8 antigens among HIV patients in China were fairly high and were associated with immunodeficiency status and ART.

Figure 1. Box-and-whisker plots of HHV8 lytic and latent antibody titer by HIV-related factors

(A) Antibody titer for patients receiving ART and not receiving ART. (B) Antibody titer for patients with CD4 ≤ 200 cells/mm³ and CD4 > 200 cells/mm³. (C) Antibody titer for patients with CD8 ≤ 400 cells/mm³ and CD8 > 400 cells/mm³. (D) Antibody titer for patients infected with HIV ≤ 10 yr and those infected with HIV > 10 yr. Titers for different groups were calculated and compared using Mann-Whitney U. “yr” stands for years.