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Tenofovir gel did not compromise vaginal mucosa barrier
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Tenofovir gel had no effect on the HIV transmission genetic “bottleneck” among women enrolled in the CAPRISA 004 trial, researchers from the University of Cape Town in South Africa suggest.
According to the researchers, there is a genetic bottleneck related to HIV transmission that results in low genetic diversity in infections, and an estimated 80% of HIV infections are caused by a single variant crossing the mucosal barrier to cause infection. The researchers analyzed whether the use of tenofovir gel had an effect on the genetic bottleneck.
They analyzed samples from participants who seroconverted during the CAPRISA 004 trial. They screened 29 samples using heteroduplex tracking assay to detect sequence differences between variants. They found that 18 of the samples were infected with a single-variant infection, and the remaining 11 samples were identified as a high-diversity infection.
Among 36 of the participants, the researchers sought to determine the effect of the tenofovir gel: 22 of the participants were from the tenofovir arm and 14 were from the placebo arm. They found that there was no difference in the frequency of single-variant infection between the arms.
“The protective effect of tenofovir gel, together with the maintenance of the multiplicity of infection between different groups, suggests that the microbicide did not compromise the vaginal mucosa barrier,” the researchers wrote.
References:
Valley-Omar Z. J Infect Dis. 2012;206:35-40.
Disclosures:
The researchers report no relevant financial disclosures.