It is not known if proviral DNA in the periphery corresponds to cognitive status in clade C as it does in clade B and recombinant forms. A cross-sectional study was conducted on participants investigated for HIV-associated neurocognitive impairment in South Africa. HIV-1 proviral DNA was quantified using a PCR assay targeting a highly conserved HIV-1 LTR-gag region. Fifty-four (36.7%) participants were cognitively impaired and 93 (63.3%) were not impaired. Forty-three (79.6%) of the cognitively impaired participants were female and 11 (20.4%) were male. There was no significant age difference between cognitively impaired and unimpaired participants (p = 0.42). HIV-1 DNA in cognitively impaired PLWH was significantly higher than in cognitively normal individuals (p = .016). Considering impaired participants, lymphocyte HIV-1 DNA was significantly higher in males than females (p = 0.02). There was a modest positive correlation between lymphocyte HIV-1 DNA and global deficit scores (GDS) r = 0.176; p = 0.03). The two measures of viral load, lymphocyte HIV-1 DNA copies/million and plasma RNA copies/ml, were positively correlated (r = 0.39; p < .001). After adjusting for other covariates, age, sex, treatment status, and the interactions between impairment and treatment, the multivariate regression showed association between proviral load and neurocognitive impairment; omega effect size was 0.04, p value = 0.010. The burden of HIV-1 peripheral blood lymphocyte proviral DNA corresponds to neurocognitive impairment among individuals infected with clade C disease. Therefore, therapeutic strategies to reduce the HIV-1 proviral DNA reservoir in lymphocytes may improve neurocognitive outcomes in PLWH.

不知道外围的前病毒 DNA 是否与进化枝 C 中的认知状态相对应，就像它在进化枝 B 和重组形式中一样。对南非 HIV 相关神经认知障碍调查的参与者进行了横断面研究。使用针对高度保守的 HIV-1 LTR-gag 区域的 PCR 测定法对 HIV-1 前病毒 DNA 进行定量。54 名 (36.7%) 参与者有认知障碍，93 名 (63.3%) 没有障碍。认知障碍参与者中有 43 人 (79.6%) 是女性，11 人 (20.4%) 是男性。认知受损和未受损的参与者之间没有显着的年龄差异 ( p  = 0.42)。认知障碍 PLWH 中的 HIV-1 DNA 显着高于认知正常个体（p = .016）。考虑到受损的参与者，男性的淋巴细胞 HIV-1 DNA 显着高于女性（p  = 0.02）。淋巴细胞 HIV-1 DNA 与整体缺陷评分 (GDS) 之间存在适度的正相关关系，r  = 0.176；p  = 0.03）。病毒载量的两个指标，淋巴细胞 HIV-1 DNA 拷贝/百万和血浆 RNA 拷贝/ml，呈正相关（r = 0.39；p  < .001）。在调整其他协变量、年龄、性别、治疗状态以及损伤与治疗之间的相互作用后，多变量回归显示前病毒载量与神经认知损伤之间存在关联；欧米茄效应大小为 0.04，p值 = 0.010。HIV-1 外周血淋巴细胞前病毒 DNA 的负担对应于感染进化枝 C 病的个体的神经认知障碍。因此，减少淋巴细胞中 HIV-1 前病毒 DNA 库的治疗策略可能会改善 PLWH 的神经认知结果。