Cervical Human Immunodeficiency Virus Type 1 Shedding Is Associated with Genital β‐Chemokine Secretion

Abstract

Forty human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1)—infected women participated in a cross-sectional study of possible correlations between chemokine receptor (CCR5 and/or CCR2B) genotype, HIV-1 RNA and DNA load, and β-chemokine levels (RANTES, MIP-1a, MIP-1β) in blood and cervix. HIV-1 nucleic acid and β-chemokines were found in all patient blood samples and in more than half of the cervical samples regardless of CCR5 or CCR2B genotype. High β-chemokine concentrations were in general associated with high virus loads in blood and cervix. In the blood, the proviral DNA load was significantly correlated with the MIP-1a concentration, whereas the DNA load in cervix was significantly associated with the MIP-1β concentration. The cervical viral RNA load was significantly associated with levels of all three chemokines. Thus, when HIV-1 shedding was highest in the genital tract, it was associated with other combinations of β-chemokines than virus load in blood, suggesting that local immune reactions strongly influence virus load in the cervical compartment.