Absence of antibodies to human herpesvirus-6 in patients with slowly-progressive human immunodeficiency virus type I infection

✍ Scribed by H. Chen; A. M. Pesce; M. Carbonari; F. Ensoli; M. Cherchi; G. Campitelli; D. Sbarigia; G. Luzi; F. Aiuti; M. Fiorilli

• Publisher: Springer
• Year: 1992
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 569 KB
• Volume: 8
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0393-2990
• DOI: 10.1007/bf00144803

✦ Synopsis

To evaluate a possible role for Human Herpesvirus-type 6 (HHV-6) coinfecfion as a co-factor in the progression of HIV-1 disease, we investigated the prevalence of seropositivity for HHV-6 in a cohort of HW-1 infected patients. These patients were retrospectively divided into two groups according to the decline of CD4+ T cells during the follow up: 11 were classified as rapid decliners (< 400 CD4+/cmm within 1 year), and 38 as slow decliners (> 400 CD4+/cmm after at least 4 years' follow up). HHV-6 antibodies were detected by a commercial immunofluorescence assay and by a Western blotting assay developed in our laboratory. Our results show that Western blot appears to provide results satisfactorily free of false positivities. We found that the frequency of HHV-6 seropositivity was significantly lower in the group of slow decliners, compared both to rapid decliners and to the general population. These data suggest a role for HHV-6 co-infection in the progression of HW-1 disease.