Zachar V, Hager H, Koppelhus U, Zacharova V, Liu X, Bambra C, Nyongo A, Goustin AS, Ebbesen P; International Conference on AIDS.
Int Conf AIDS. 1996 Jul 7-12; 11: 364 (abstract no. Tu.C.2575).
Danish Cancer Society, Aarhus, Denmark. Fax: (+45) 86 19 54 15. E-mail: vladimir@virus.aau.dk.
Objective: To determine the prevalence of IFNs in the maternal and cord blood, and in the placenta in a cohort of Kenyan pregnant women and to examine association of elevated IFN levels with transplacental passage of HIV. Methods: Matched samples of peripheral and cord blood, and placental tissue were obtained from 152 asymptomatic HIV+ and 117 seronegative pregnant women from Nairobi, Kenya. IFN-alpha and -Beta were quantitated in the sera by ELISA and in the placental biopsies, IFNs were detected by immunohistochemistry. In addition, the sera were screened for a number of infections including HBV, CMV, HSV, rubella, syphilis, toxoplasmosis, shistosomiasis, leishmaniasis and malaria. C2V3 env region of HIV-1-specific RNA was detected by nested RT-PCR after ultracentrifugal concentration from microfiltered patient sera. Results: The survey has shown that IFN-alpha was present in the cord blood and concurrently in the placentas in 5 out of 152 HIV+ mothers (3.3%). In 4/5 of these pairs, the elevation of IFN-alpha was also seen in the linked maternal blood. In the placental tissue the expression of IFN-alpha was demonstrated in the villous trophoblast as well as in the decidual cytotrophoblast. The detection of IFN-beta however, resulted in only 2 positive pairs of matched mother and cord sera in the same study group. Moreover, all placentas were found devoid of IFN- reactivity. Employing highly efficient and rigorously controlled RT-PCR, remarkably, no viral RNA could be detected in the study group with elevated IFN-alpha (0 out of 5), whereas in the control group of pairs negative for IFN-alpha HIV-1 RNA was detected in 3 of 6 cord samples. Complementary serological investigation found all mothers to be negative for all tested viral, bacterial, and parasitic agents. Conclusion: Our study provides evidence indicating that a strong correlation exists between the lack of HIV transplacental passage and IFN-alpha in the maternal and cord blood, and in the placental cells. Available serological data suggest that IFN-alpha was not in this population induced by HIV or any other tested viral or parasitic infection. Additional studies based on a more extensive collection are needed to bolster our findings.
Publication Types:
Keywords:
- Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome
- Case-Control Studies
- Female
- Fetal Blood
- Genes, env
- HIV Infections
- HIV Seropositivity
- HIV-1
- Humans
- Interferon-alpha
- Interferon-beta
- Interferons
- Kenya
- Placenta
- Polymerase Chain Reaction
- Pregnancy
- Prevalence
- RNA, Viral
- Trophoblasts
- genetics
Other ID:
UI: 102218657
From Meeting Abstracts