Coreceptor Tropism and HIV Disease Progression

In a 7-year cohort study, risk for disease progression was significantly higher among patients who had dual/mixed-tropic virus at baseline than among those who had CCR5-tropic virus.

Known predictors of HIV disease progression include viral load, CD4-cell count, and the ability of the virus to induce syncytia formation in MT-2 cells in vitro. This latter characteristic is generally found in viruses that use the CXCR4 coreceptor. However, little is known about whether CXCR4 tropism is associated with disease progression after adjustment for CD4-cell count and viral load.

To address this gap, investigators analyzed stored plasma samples from a cohort of 126 HIV-infected patients with hemophilia. Patients were aged 9 to 16 at the time of enrollment (1989–1990) and were followed for a mean of 7 years. Coreceptor tropism was assessed using the Trofile assay, which is performed by Monogram Biosciences. (Of note, several of the…

Reviewing Author

Judith Feinberg, MD

Coreceptor Tropism and HIV Disease Progression

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Reviewing Author