Relationship between HIV-1 Env subtypes A and D and disease progression in a rural Ugandan cohort

To investigate the role of HIV-1 envelope subtypes on disease progression in a rural cohort of Ugandan adults where two major HIV-1 subtypes (A and D) exist.

Participants of a clinical cohort seen between December 1995 and December 1998 had blood collected for HIV-1 subtyping. These included prevalent cases (people already infected with HIV at the start of the study in 1990) and incident cases (those who seroconverted between 1990 and December 1998). HIV-1 subtyping was carried out by heteroduplex mobility assay and DNA sequencing in the V3 env region. Disease progression was measured by the rate of CD4 lymphocyte count decline, clinical progression for the incident cases as time from seroconversion to AIDS or death, to first CD4 lymphocyte count < 200 x 10(6)/l and to the World Health Organization clinical stage 3. All analyses were adjusted for age and sex.

One hundred and sixty-four individuals, including 47 prevalent and 117 incident cases, had V3 env subtype data of which 65 (40%) were subtyped as A and 99 as D. In the incident cases, 44 (38%) were subtyped as A and 73 as D. There was a suggestion that for most end-points A had a slower progression than D. The cumulative probability of remaining free from AIDS or death at 6 years post-seroconversion was 0.72 [95% confidence interval (CI), 0.50 to 0.85] for A and 0.58 (95% CI, 0.42 to 0.71) for D, and the adjusted hazard ratio of subtype D compared to A was estimated to be 1.39 (95% CI, 0.66 to 2.94; P = 0.39). The estimated difference in rates of decline in square root CD4 lymphocyte counts was -0.41 per year (95% CI, -0.98 to 0.15; P = 0.15).

This study suggests that although subtype A may have a slower progression than D, HIV-1 envelope subtype is not a major factor in determining the progression of HIV-1 disease in a rural population in Uganda.