Lower broadly neutralizing antibody responses in female versus male HIV-1 infected injecting drug users.  Viruses
Euler et al. studied the prevalence of broadly neutralizing antibody (bNAb) responses in HIV-1 infected individuals in the Amsterdam Cohort, including 50 male and 35 female participants who reported injecting drug use as the only risk factor.
The study revealed a significantly lower prevalence of bNAb responses in females compared to males. Gender, transmission route and CD4+ count at set point, but not viral load, were independently associated with the development of bNAb responses in intravenous drug users (IDUs). To further explore the influences of gender in the setting of IDU, the author group also looked into the Swiss 4.5k Screen. There we observed lower bNAb responses in female IDUs as well.
In conclusion, the study found that women infected with HIV-1 using contaminated needles developed bNAb responses less efficiently than men that attracted HIV-1 via the same transmission route. This difference is most likely multifactorial, where early viral diversity caused by multivariant transmission, CD4+ T cell count, viral load and drug use may all play a role. Therefore, the effect of gender on the development of bNAb responses is a factor that should be considered when designing vaccine efficacy trials.