Maternal HIV-1 viral load and vertical transmission of infection: The Ariel Project for the prevention of HIV transmission from mother to infant

Cao, Yunzhen and Krogstad, Paul and Korber, Bette T. and Koup, Richard A. and Muldoon, Mark and Macken, Catherine and Song, Jia-Li and Jin, Zhanqun and Zhao, Jla-Qi and Clapp, Sheila and Chen, Irvin S. Y. and Ho, David D. and Ammann, Arthur J. and Ariel Project Investigators, the (1997) Maternal HIV-1 viral load and vertical transmission of infection: The Ariel Project for the prevention of HIV transmission from mother to infant. Nature Medicine, 3 (5). pp. 549-552. ISSN 1078-8956

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Abstract

Most HIV-1 infections of children result from mother-to-infant transmission, which may occur perinatally or postnatally, as a consequence of breast feeding1−8. In this study, the influence of maternal viral load on transmission of infection to infants from non-breast-feeding mothers was examined using samples of plasma and peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) collected at several time points during pregnancy and the 6-month period after delivery. These samples were analyzed by several quantitative methods, including virus cultures of PBMCs and polymerase chain reaction (PCR) assays for HIV-1 RNA in plasma and DMA in PBMCs. The risk of transmission increased slightly with a higher viral load, but transmission and nontransmission occurred over the entire range of values for each assay. No threshold value of virus load was identified which discriminated between transmitters and nontransmitters. We also noted a significant rise in viral load and a decline in CD4+ lymphocytes in the six months after delivery. These findings suggest that a high maternal viral load is insufficient to fully explain vertical transmission of HIV-1. Additional studies are needed to examine the post-partum increase in viremia.

Item Type:	Article
Additional Information:	The Ariel Project is a Pediatric AIDS Foundation Sponsored project. Core Investigators include James Mullins, Bruce Walker, and Steve Wolinsky. Cohort Investigators are Arlene Bardeguez, Marilyn Crane, Celine Hanson, Hunter Hamill, Katherine Luzuriaga, Paul Palumbo, Russell Van Dyke, Susan Widameyer and Andrew Wiznia.
Uncontrolled Keywords:	HIV-1, maternal transmission
Subjects:	MSC 2010, the AMS's Mathematics Subject Classification > 92 Biology and other natural sciences
Depositing User:	Dr Mark Muldoon
Date Deposited:	17 Apr 2006
Last Modified:	20 Oct 2017 14:12
URI:	https://eprints.maths.manchester.ac.uk/id/eprint/224

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