NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - In HIV-1 seroconverters, those with anti-Tat antibodies are likely to progress more slowly to advanced HIV disease, Italian researchers report.
“The presence of antibodies against a native Tat protein is predictive of a slower progression to AIDS and/or severe immunodeficiency,” senior investigator Dr. Barbara Ensoli at Instituto Superiore di Sanita, Rome, told Reuters Health.
Dr. Ensoli and colleagues investigated the significance of anti-Tat antibody status in 252 HIV-1 seroconverters. Of these, 30 (11.9%) were anti-Tat positive.
The antibodies were detected at a median of 4.1 years after seroconversion, they report in the April 15th issue of the Journal of Infectious Diseases.
Ten years after seroconversion, the incidence of clinical or immunological AIDS events was 26.1 per 1000 person-years in the anti-Tat-positive subjects and 53.9 per 1000 person-years in the anti-Tat-negative subjects.
In addition, the median survival times were 12 years for those in the positive group and 9 years for those in the negative group.
“In particular,” concluded Dr. Ensoli, “anti-Tat antibodies may have a direct protective effect or represent a surrogate marker of other protective factor(s), including anti-Tat cellular responses.”
Source: J Infect Dis 2005;191:1321-1324. [ Google search on this article ]
MeSH Headings:DNA-Binding Proteins: Pathologic Processes: Pathological Conditions, Signs and Symptoms: Transcription Factors: Viral Proteins: HTLV-BLV Antibodies: HIV Antibodies: Viral Regulatory Proteins: Trans-Activators: Gene Products, tat: Disease Progression: Disease Attributes: DiseasesCopyright © 2002 Reuters Limited. All rights reserved. Republication or redistribution of Reuters content, including by framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Reuters. Reuters shall not be liable for any errors or delays in the content, or for any actions taken in reliance thereon. Reuters and the Reuters sphere logo are registered trademarks and trademarks of the Reuters group of companies around the world.
