NEUTRALIZING ANTIBODIES AND COMPLEMENT-MEDIATED, ANTIBODY-DEPENDENT ENHANCEMENT (C'-ADE) OF HUMAN-IMMUNODEFICIENCY-VIRUS INFECTION IN ITS VERTICAL TRANSMISSION

PROBLEM: Mother-to-child transmission is a major route for the spread of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) worldwide. Our understanding of its mechanisms and parameters is still limited. Among the factors poss ibly involved in virus passage determination are the level and quality of antiviral humoral response. METHOD OF STUDY: Anti-HIV-1/Lai neutra lizing activity in sera from 35 mother-infant pairs (in which 13 trans mission cases occurred) was investigated, as was the complement-mediat ed antibody-dependent enhancement capacity of the same sera. RESULTS: Neutralization titers of 640 or more were found only in four mothers o f uninfected children, but this result was not significant. No signifi cant link was obtained with the occurrence of complement-mediated, ant ibody-dependent enhancement. CONCLUSIONS: As suggested by a synthesis of the literature, vertical transmission of HIV is probably the result of multiple active and/or stochastic parameters in the mother, the fe tal structures, and the viral population. The precise definition of ce llular mechanisms involved in in utero infection would help to better define which immune activity in the mother should be more carefully co nsidered.