Abstract:

Objective To understand the immune function status and the level of virus replication in newly elderly human immunodeficiency virus（HIV） patients in Nanchang City from 2018 to 2022，in order to predict disease progression. Methods Western blot（WB），flow cytometry and real-time polymerase（real-time PCR） were used to test the antibody bands patterns，the value of cluster of differentiation 4 receptors（CD4⁺T） lymphocytes counts and the viral load in 606 newly found elderly HIV infected patients in Nanchang City from 2018 to 2022. Results Out of the 606 cases of newly elderly HIV infected patients in Nanchang City from 2018 to 2022，the detection rates of WB specific bands gp160 and gp120 were 100.00%，the positive rate of bands of gp41，p24，p66，p31，p51，p17，p39，p55 were 98.35%，96.53%，94.72%，91.25%，89.77%，52.48%，47.03% and 24.42%，respectively. There were many types of WB bands，but the main band types were total bands，missing p55 band，missing p55+p39 bands，missing p55+p39+p17bands，accounting for 19.47%，15.68%，13.36% and 24.92%，respectively. The value of CD4⁺T lymphocytes counts from newly elderly HIV infected patients was （209.03±161.14）cells/μL，and the range of CD4⁺T lymphocytes counts 50-200，201-350 and >350 cells/μL were 245（40.43%），182（30.03%），91（15.02%），respectively. The value of viral load from newly elderly HIV infected patients was （4.95± 0.81）log/mL，and the range of viral load <3，3-4，>4-5 and >5 log/mL were 16（2.64%），49（8.09%），253（41.75%），288（47.52%），respectively. Through correlation analysis，it was confirmed that the number of WB bands was positive correlation with the count of CD4⁺T lymphocyte and negative correlation with the viral load，and the count of CD4⁺T lymphocyte was negatively correlated with the viral load. Conclusion From 2018 to 2022，the newly elderly HIV infected patients in Nanchang City were associated with lower immunity，but highly viral replication. The WB bands patterns，CD4⁺T Lymphocyte counts and viral load can help to judge immune status，determine disease stages and monitor disease progression of elderly patients.

Key words: Human immunodeficiency virus patients, Western blot bands, CD4⁺T lymphocytes, Viral load