HIV coreceptor tropism in paired plasma, peripheral blood mononuclear cell, and cerebrospinal fluid isolates from antiretroviral-naïve subjects

A survey of HIV coreceptor usage in cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) samples, peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs), and plasma samples from naïve seropositive patients was conducted. One hundred patients were enrolled in this study. Of the 100 patients, 36 had a primary or recent infection (P-RI), 31 had an early chronic infection (>350 CD4 cells) (ECI), and 33 had a late chronic infection (LCI). All 3 compartments were sampled in a subset of 33 participants, while the remaining 67 patients provided plasma samples and PBMCs only. Seventy-seven patients harbored the R5 virus in plasma samples and had a significantly higher median and percentage of CD4(+) T cells than patients with X4 virus (437 and 281 cells/μl, respectively; P = 0.0086; 20.6% and 18.6%, respectively). The X4 strain was detected more frequently in patients with LCI than in patients with P-RI or ECI (39.3%, 19.4%, and 9.6%, respectively; P = 0.0063). PBMC and plasma tropism was concordant in 90 patients, and 73 had the R5 strain. Among patients with discordant results, 4 had the R5 virus in their plasma and the X4 virus in PBMCs; 6 showed the opposite profile. Plasma, PBMC, and CSF tropism determinations were concordant in 26/33 patients (21 patients had R5, and 5 had X4). The tropism was discordant in 5/33 patients, with the X4 virus in plasma and R5 in CSF; the HIV tropism in PBMCs was X4 in 3 patients. The remaining 2/33 patients had the R5 virus in plasma and PBMCs and the X4 virus in CSF; one of these patients had a P-RI. The discordant tropism in CSF and blood may have implications for chemokine (C-C motif) receptor 5 (CCR5) antagonist use in patients with limited response to antiretroviral therapy (ART) or in responding patients evaluated for simplification of treatment.