Mucosal Blood Group Antigen Expression Profiles And Hiv Infections: A Study Among Female Sex Workers In Kenya

Abstract

Background The ABO blood group antigens are carbohydrate moieties expressed on human red blood cells however; these antigens can also be expressed on some other cells particularly the surface of epithelial cells and may be found in mucosal secretions. In many human populations 80% secrete ABO antigens (termed ‘secretors’) while 20% do not (termed ‘non-secretors’). Furthermore, there are disease conditions that are associated with secretor status. Objective To investigate correlations between secretor status and HIV infection among female sex workers in Nairobi, Kenya. Methodology This cross-sectional study recruited 280 female sex workers aged 18–65 years from the Pumwani Majengo cohort, Kenya. Blood typing was determined by serological techniques using monoclonal antibodies to the ABO blood group antigens. Secretor phenotyping was determined using anti-H specific lectins specific to salivary, vaginal and cervical blood group H antigen using the agglutination inhibition technique and correlated to individual HIV sero-status. Participants were additionally screened for Bacterial vaginosis, Neisseria gonorrhoea and Trichomonas vaginalis. Results Out of the 280 participants, 212 (75.7%) were secretors and 68 (24.3%) were non-secretors. The incidence of all infections: HIV, Bacterial vaginosis, Neisseria gonorrhoea and Trichomonas vaginalis was higher among secretors compared to non-secretors. However, this difference was only statistically significant for HIV infection incidence rates: HIV infected secretors (83.7%) versus HIV un-infected secretors (71.8%) (p = 0.029) Based on ABO phenotype stratification, the incidence of HIV infection was higher among blood group A PLOS ONE | DOI:10.1371/journal.pone.0133049 July 17, 2015 1 / 9 OPEN ACCESS Citation: Chanzu NM, Mwanda W, Oyugi J, Anzala O (2015) Mucosal Blood Group Antigen Expression Profiles and HIV Infections: A Study among Female Sex Workers in Kenya. PLoS ONE 10(7): e0133049. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0133049 Editor: William A Paxton, Institute of Infection and Global Health, UNITED KINGDOM Received: March 9, 2015 Accepted: June 22, 2015 Published: July 17, 2015 Copyright: © 2015 Chanzu et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. Data Availability Statement: All relevant data are within the paper and its Supporting Information files. Funding: The study was funded by a grant from the Global Health Research Initiative under the HIV/AIDS Prevention Trial Capacity Building Grants Program (Phase 2) (Project Number: 107005-001). The funder had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript. Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist. secretors (26/52 = 50%), in comparison to B (12/39 = 33.3%: p = 0.066), AB (3/9 = 33.3%: p = 0.355), and O secretors (36/112 = 32.1%: p = 0.028). Conclusion This is the first report to document the variable expression of the ABH blood group antigens profiling secretor and non-secretor phenotypes in the female genital tract among a high-risk population in a Kenyan population. These findings suggest the non-secretor phenotype may confer a certain degree of protection against HIV infection.