Effect of pregnancy and zidovudine therapy on viral load in HIV-1-infected women

The objective of this study was to determine the effect of pregnancy and zidovudine (ZDV) on viral load in HIV-1 infected women. A prospective nonrandomized cohort study was conducted at a university medical center and affiliated clinic and included 44 HIV-1-seroposirive pregnant women seen between June 1991 and September 1995. Twenty-three women initiated ZDV therapy during their pregnancy. Seventeen women did not take antiretrovirals, and four women took ZDV prior to and throughout pregnancy. HIV-1 viral load as determined by quantitative peripheral blood mononuclear cell (PBMC) culture and quantitative plasma RNA levels was measured at various times during pregnancy and in the postpartum period. HIV-1 load, by both infectivity and RNA levels, was relatively low and remained stable during pregnancy and through 6 weeks post partum. Initiation of ZDV therapy during pregnancy did not result in a significant decrease in viral load at delivery when controlling for the effect of pregnancy. In those women who received ZDV therapy only during pregnancy, there was a trend toward an increase in viral load measured by PBMC infectivity 6 months post partum compared with the levels before the initiation of ZDV. Mother-to-child transmission of HIV-1 occurred in one of 27(4%) ZDV-treated women and in two of 16 (12.5%) untreated women. Among HIV-l-infected pregnant women with low viral levels, HIV-1 plasma RNA and infectivity remained stable during and after gestation, Although these results are based on a relatively small number of women and should be considered preliminary, the lack of significant ZDV-associated diminution in viral levels suggests that the protective effect of ZDV on the mother to-child transmission of HIV-1 may not be due to the reduction in maternal viral levels but, by inference, may be due to the prevention of HIV-1 reverse transcription in the newborn.