Preliminary study on the correlation between specific HIV antibody expression and clinical staging

SONG Xiao-yu; SHANG Zheng-ling; FENG Qin-ying; ZHOU Xin-zhong; GE Zhang-wen

doi:10.13820/j.cnki.gdyx.20242019

Abstract：Objective To investigate the differences in the expression of antibodies against different HIV antigens at various stages of human immunodeficiency virus(HIV)infection,explore their correlation with clinical staging of ac-quired immunodeficiency syndrome(AIDS),and assess the feasibility of using Western blot bands as predictors of HIV infection and AIDS stages.Methods A retrospective study was conducted involving 307 HIV/AIDS patients from the In-fectious Disease Department of Guizhou Provincial People's Hospital,treated between April 2020 and November 2022.Blood samples were collected for CD3+CD4+T cell count.The general demographics of the two groups were analyzed,and the expression of specific antibodies against different HIV antigens was measured using Western blot analysis.Receiv-er operating characteristics(ROC)curves were drawn for the differential expression of antibodies,and their potential cor-relation with clinical staging was explored.Results There were no statistically significant differences between the two groups in terms of gender,age,nutritional status,smoking history,hypertension,diabetes history,or alcohol consumption(P＞0.05).The expression of specific antibodies against the HIV antigens GP160,GP120,GP41,P24,P55,and P17 showed no significant difference between the two groups(P＞0.05).However,the prevalence of specific antibodies a-gainst P66,P51,and P31 in the peripheral blood of AIDS-stage patients was significantly higher than in those at the in-fection stage(P＜0.05).ROC curve analysis of the P66,P51,and P31 antibody bands showed that these antibodies were more prevalent in the AIDS stage,with areas under the curve(AUC)greater than 0.8.Conclusion Antibodies a-gainst viral envelope antigens(GP160,GP120,GP41)and core antigens(P24,P55,P17)persist during both the infec-tion and AIDS stages.However,specific antibodies against reverse transcriptase antigens(P66,P51,P31)are signifi-cantly higher in the sera of AIDS patients than in those at the infection stage,suggesting that these antibodies may serve as markers for viral replication activity and could assist in the evaluation of clinical staging.