Association between antibody reactivity to the C and V epitopes and viral load
infection
INFECTION
We next evaluated whether pre-infection reactivity to the C and V epitopes was associated with VL after infection. Participants with pre-infection reactivity to the C epitope had lower mean VLs at baseline than those without pre-infection reactivity, but the difference was not statistically significant (reactive at pre-infection: 23,969 copies/mL, not reactive at pre-infection: 98,982 copies/mL, p=0.16; Association between pre-infection antibody reactivity to the C and V epitopes and HIV viral load. The plots show the association between the presence of antibody reactivity to the C epitope The opposite association was observed for the V epitope. Participants with pre-infection reactivity to the V epitope had higher mean VLs at baseline but the difference was not statistically significant (reactive at pre-infection: 119,243 copies/mL, not reactive at pre-infection: 84,969 copies/mL, p=0.068; We also evaluated whether the strength of antibody reactivity to the C and V epitopes at baseline or follow-up was correlated with VL at the same visit (Correlation between the strength of antibody reactivity to the C and V epitopes after infection and HIV viral load. The plots show the Pearson correlation (R) between the strength of antibody reactivity (log