LACK OF ASSOCIATION BETWEEN ANTI-V3 LOOP ANTIBODY AND PERINATAL HIV-1TRANSMISSION IN KINSHASA, ZAIRE, DESPITE USE OF ASSAYS BASED ON LOCALHIV-1 STRAINS

Maternal antibodies against the V3 loop principal neutralizing domain (PND) have been reported to protect against perinatal HIV-1 transmissi on. To study this association in an African city with a long-standing HIV epidemic and no established ''consensus sequence'' for the V3 loop region of gp120, we determined the DNA sequence for the V3 region of HIV-1 from 13 HIV-1-infected residents of Kinshasa, Zaire, and develop ed peptide enzyme immunoassays (EIAs) reflecting the V3 loop PND for t hose HIV-1 strains. Using the most broadly reactive locally derived V3 loop peptide in a limited-antigen EIA, there was no significant diffe rence in the perinatal HIV-1 transmission risk between 64 women with a nti-V3 loop antibody (transmission risk, 30%) and 104 women without an ti-V3 loop antibody (transmission risk, 25%; p = 0.5); this finding wa s unchanged after we controlled for maternal AIDS and low birth weight . Although we used assays for V3 loop antibody based on local HIV-1 st rains and evaluated a large number of mother-child pairs, we found no evidence that maternal anti-V3 loop PND antibody protects against peri natal HIV-1 transmission.