Immunoglobulin Levels in HIV Patients And Abo Blood Group: Is There A Relationship?

Abstract

This study aims at determining relationship between the ABO blood group and the level of immunoglobulin classes in patients infected with Human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1). One hundred and fifty three (153) confirmed HIV-1 positive subjects were enrolled in the study. These comprise of 62 (40.5%) males and 91 (59.5%) females. Sex and age-matched HIV-negative control were also recruited. The subjects comprise of adults aged 18-55 years with 36 years as the mean age. The study was conducted at the CDC-UNTH ART clinic Enugu after obtaining ethical approval from the relevant authority.The total protein, globulin, albumin IgG, IgM and IgA were assayed for both the HIV-positive patients and control subjects. The standard tube technique for both cell and serum grouping was used in determining the blood groups of the patients and control group under the study. The total protein, albumin and immunoglobulins levels were all determined using the Roche/Hitachi 902 automated  analyser .The assay principle of the total protein and albumin was colorimetric assay while that of immunoglobulins was turbidimetric.  Globulin assay was determined by finding the difference between total protein and albumin values. Descriptive statistics which include means, standard deviation (SD), frequency and percentage were used to analyze categorical and continuous variables. Differential statistics which include chi-square was used to test association between categorical variable while two-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) was used to compare means of continuous variables. All analyses were done using the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) software version 18.0.The mean levels of the total protein, globulin, albumin, IgG ,IgM and IgA for the HIV-positive subjects were 84.92g/l, 40.13g/l, 44.96g/l, 19.31g/l, 1.56g/l and 2.41g/l respectively. The mean levels of the total protein, globulin, albumin, IgG, IgM and IgA for the control group were 75.94g/l, 30.19g/l,45.80g/l, 18.78g/l, 0.88g/l, 2.12g/l respectively. Our work did not establish any statistically significant relationship (p<0.05) between ABO blood group and HIV infection. There is no significant difference in the mean levels of total protein, globulin, IgG,  IgM and IgA  across the blood groups (A,B,AB and O). We recommend the inclusion of IgM, IgG, IgA, globulin and total protein assays as baseline study in addition to the well established CD4⁺ cell count and viral load assay in assessing the Immune status of people infected with HIV at baseline. More study is recommended.

KEY WORDS: HIV, infection, Immunoglobulin, ABO Blood group.