The presence of anti-Tat antibodies in HIV-infected individuals is associated with containment of CD4+T-cell decay and viral load, and with delay of disease progression: results of a 3-year cohort study

Table 3 Risk of starting antiretroviral therapy

Parameters	Hazard ratio	95% confidence limits	P-value
All subjects (n = 52)
Anti-Tat Ab + vs Anti-Tat Ab-	0.16	0.03 – 0.84	0.0305
IgG anti-Env (log₁₀ titers)	0.19	0.05 – 0.73	0.0148
IgG anti-Gag (log₁₀ titers)	0.78	0.41 – 1.48	0.4573
Years from diagnosis of HIV	1.27	0.91 – 1.76	0.1631
CD4⁺ T cells/μl at baseline	1.00	0.99 – 1.00	0.3309
Viral load (log₁₀ copies/ml) at baseline	2.53	0.75 – 8.52	0.1344
Anti-Tat Ab-negative subjects (n = 35)
IgG anti-Env (log₁₀ titers)	0.41	0.06 – 2.67	0.3545
IgG anti-Gag (log₁₀ titers)	1.57	0.27 – 9.04	0.6101
Years from diagnosis of HIV	1.00	0.46 – 2.20	0.9935
CD4⁺ T cells/μl at baseline	0.99	0.98 – 1.01	0.3445
Viral load (log₁₀ copies/ml) at baseline	24.20	0.22 – 2671.23	0.1843

A Cox proportional hazards model with time-dependent repeated measurements was used to estimate the effects of the presence of anti-Tat Abs, or of anti-Env or anti-Gag IgG titers on the risk of starting HAART, after adjusting for years from HIV diagnosis, CD4⁺ T cells and viral load at baseline. Anti-Env and anti-Gag Abs were assessed at baseline and at 6, 18 and 36 months.

ISSN: 1742-4690