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Journal of Virology, August 2003, p. 8570-8576, Vol. 77, No. 15
0022-538X/03/$08.00+0     DOI: 10.1128/JVI.77.15.8570-8576.2003
Copyright © 2003, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.

Human Immunodeficiency Virus Type 1 Primary Isolate Neutralization Resistance Is Associated with the Syncytium-Inducing Phenotype and Lower CD4 Cell Counts in Subtype CRF01_AE-Infected Patients

Victoria R. Polonis,^1,2* Mark S. de Souza,^1,2 Janice M. Darden,^2,3 Somsak Chantakulkij,¹ Thippawan Chuenchitra,¹ Sorachai Nitayaphan,¹ Arthur E. Brown,¹ Merlin L. Robb,² and Deborah L. Birx⁴

Armed Forces Research Institute of Medical Sciences, Bangkok 10400,¹ Siriraj Hospital, Mahidol University, Bangkok 10700, Thailand,³ The Henry M. Jackson Foundation,² Walter Reed Army Institute of Research, Rockville, Maryland 20850⁴

Received 13 January 2003/ Accepted 8 May 2003

A number of human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) non-B-subtype products have been developed for present or future vaccine trials; in Thailand, several studies using subtype B and/or CRF01_AE vaccines have been conducted. To better characterize the biologic properties of these subtypes, 70 HIV-1 subtype B and E isolates were phenotyped as syncytium-inducing (SI) or non-syncytium-inducing (NSI) isolates and assessed for sensitivity to neutralizing antibody (NAb). A significantly higher number of NSI subtype E viruses were neutralization sensitive than SI subtype E viruses (P = 0.009), while no association between viral phenotype and sensitivity to NAb was observed for subtype B (P = 0.856), suggesting a difference in the neutralization patterns of subtypes B and E. Strikingly, concurrent CD4 T-cell numbers were significantly lower for subtype E-infected patients whose isolates were more resistant to NAb, both for the overall study group (P < 0.001) as well as for the 22 patients with NSI isolates (P = 0.013). Characterization of the evolution of biologic properties of both B and non-B HIV-1 subtypes will provide a clearer understanding of the repertoire of antibodies that must be elicited for a vaccine to be effective against all phenotypes and subtypes.

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* Corresponding author. Mailing address: The Henry M. Jackson Foundation, Suite 200, 13 Taft Ct., Rockville, MD 20850. Phone: (301) 762-8308. Fax: (301) 762-4177. E-mail: vpolonis{at}hivresearch.org.

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Journal of Virology, August 2003, p. 8570-8576, Vol. 77, No. 15
0022-538X/03/$08.00+0     DOI: 10.1128/JVI.77.15.8570-8576.2003
Copyright © 2003, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.

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