Molecular epidemiology related to human immunodeficiency virus type 1 infection in men having sex with men in Xi'an / 中华流行病学杂志

Objective To investigate the subtype distribution of HIV-1 infection among men having sex with men (MSM) in Xi' an city.Methods 5 ml anti-coagulating blood samples were collected from MSM who had been reported during 2010-2012 in Xi'an.Both gag and env genes were amplified by nested RT-PCR from the extracted RNA and then sequenced.The acquired sequences were compared with international subtype references,and then the genetic distances were calculated and phylogenetic trees were constructed by Mega 5.2.Epidemiological information including sexual behavior characteristics,history of drug use,blood donation,etc.were gathered.Results 168 samples were successfully amplified and sequenced.Results from Phylogenic analysis showed that the gag and env sequences of 165 samples shared the same subtypes,of which 79 (47.0％) were CRF01_AE,74 (44.0％) were CRF07_BC and 12 (7.1％) belonged to subtype B.There were 3 samples with gag and env sequences classified into different subtypes,of which 2 (1.2％) were CRF01_AE/A1,and the other 1 was CRF07_BC/CRF01_AE.Conclusion At least three HIV-1 subtypes including CRF01_AE,CRF07_BC were identified among MSM population in Xi'an city.

Analysis for Human Immunodeficiency Virus 1 Subtype in Korean Blood Donors / 대한수혈학회지

BACKGROUND: Genetic variants of virus appear to differ depending on the country, race, infection route, and so on. To characterize the main HIV subtype in infected blood donors and inquire about the route of HIV infection, we analyzed HIV subtype for samples that showed reactive results on the anti-HIV 1/2 and HIV-1 NAT test from September 2007 to February 2010. METHODS: To identify the HIV-1 subtype of the 90 samples that showed reactive results on the anti-HIV test and HIV-1 NAT, we performed HIV 1/2 Western blot assay, HIV RNA quantitative assay, HIV-1 nested PCR, and HIV-1 RNA sequencing. RESULTS: A total of 85 samples (94.4%) were confirmed to be HIV-1 subtypes. Among them, 82 samples (96.5%) were subtype B; and subtype A, C, and G was confirmed for one case each (1.2% for each case). We could not identify the subtype of the other five samples. One of them was amplified by nested PCR, but was not confirmed of the subtype, and four samples were not amplified even by nested PCR. CONCLUSION: The main HIV-1 subtype among the HIV-infected blood donors was confirmed to be subtype B. In addition, we identified one case each of HIV-1 subtype A, C, and G, which was not detected in blood donors in the past. It appeared that the route of HIV infection in Korea had become complicated. Therefore, we concluded that continuous research for HIV subtype analysis and efficient management of blood donors is needed.

Epidemiologic and clinical characteristics of pregnant women living with HIV/AIDS in a region of Southern Brazil where the subtype C of HIV-1 infection predominates

Southern Brazil has the highest prevalence rate of AIDS in the country and is the only region in the Americas where HIV-1 subtype C prevails. OBJECTIVE: We evaluated the epidemiologic and clinical characteristics of pregnant women living with HIV/AIDS in the South region of Santa Catarina, Brazil. METHODS: All pregnant women with HIV infection attending the obstetric outpatient clinic of Criciúma, State of Santa Catarina, in 2007 (n = 46) were invited to participate. Data of 36 eligible participants were obtained through a standardized questionnaire. RESULTS: The great majority were young, with a steady partner, low family income, low education level and referring early first sexual intercourse. Many reported use of illicit non-injecting drugs (55.5 percent) and unprotected sex with partners that were HIV-positive (57.7 percent), injecting drug user (22.2 percent), male inmate (19.4 percent), truck driver (13.8 percent), with history of sexually transmitted disease (11.1 percent) or men who have sex with men (MSM) (2.8 percent). Most (66.7 percent) of the participants had their HIV diagnosis done during the pregnancy, 7 (19.4 percent) had a previous history of HIV mother-to-child transmission. Therapy based on highly active antiretroviral therapy (94 percent) was initiated at 19.3 weeks on average and 33 percent showed irregular antiretroviral adherence. CONCLUSION: These results confirm previous data on HIV epidemiology in Brazil and suggest that the women partners' sexual behavior and unprotected sexual intercourse are important aspects of HIV epidemic. Additional efforts in education, prophylaxis and medication adherence are needed.

Defects in blood dendritic cell subsets in HIV-1 subtype C infected Indians.

Background & objective: DCs trigger both innate and adaptive immune responses to control HIV infection and represent a viral reservoir acting as target and HIV carriers for infection of permissive CD4+ T-cells. DCs thus form a very attractive study subject to further our existing knowledge of HIV induced immunopathogenesis due to its diverse and crucial role in HIV infection establishment, viral dissemination, immune evasion, viral persistence, etc. We aimed to characterize the effect of HIV infection on myeloid and plasmacytoid dendritic cell subsets in a group of HIV-1 subtype C infected treated or untreated Indian individuals. Methods: Blood DC subset numbers and immunophenotype were studied for 79 HIV infected subjects at various stages of disease and compared with 13 HIV-uninfected controls. Comparisons were also made between groups of subjects based on their CD4+ T cell counts and also experience of antiretrovirals. Results: Significant decreases were observed in blood DC counts and the two DC subsets in HIV infected individuals. Subjects with lowest CD4+ T cell counts also had a drastically reduced DC subset pool which correlated positively with plasma viraemia and negatively with CD4+ T cell counts. DC subsets from HIV infected subjects showed higher expression of co-stimulatory molecules CD40 and CD86, and HIV-1 co-receptors CXCR4 and CCR5 which correlated positively with HIV-1 plasma viraemia. The alterations in blood DCs were partly resolved in ART receiving study subjects. Interpretation & conclusions: Correlation between DC subset activation state and viraemia supports the role of DC activation on viral replication and CD4+ T cell depletion.

Phylogenetic Analysis of env Gene V3-V5 Region of HIV-1 Subtype A Isolates from Korean

Phylogenetic analysis was conducted to monitor transmission of HIV and to investigate the genetic structure of primary isolates from 12 HIV-1 subtype A infected Koreans. The individuals infected with subtype A viruses had been diagnosed as HIV-1 seropositives during the period 1987 to 1995 and blood samples have been collected from 1991 to 1997. DNA of each individual was isolated from uncultured or cultured peripheral blood mononuclear cells. V3-V5 (0.7 kb) fragment of HIV-1 rev gene was amplified by nested polymerase chain reaction and the PCR products were sequenced. The mean value of the divergence of nucleotide of HIV-1 euv V3-V5 fragment was 17.0+/-4.06% (8.6~25.8%) within HIV-1 subtype A isolates from Koreans. This diversity was higher than those of African isolates (13.7+/-2.66%). In the phylogenetic tree, Korean subtype A isolates were not grouped together, but intermingled into African isolates. The results of this study suggested that HIV-1 subtype A variants be introduced from multiple sites of Africa into Korea and the big genetic diversity of Korea HIV-1 subtype A isolates may be further influenced by the range of geographic locations in which the infection occurred rather than the elapsed time between infection and collection of samples and the disease progression.

Phylogenetic Analysis of env Gene V3-V5 Region of HIV-1 Subtype A Isolates from Korean

Phylogenetic analysis was conducted to monitor transmission of HIV and to investigate the genetic structure of primary isolates from 12 HIV-1 subtype A infected Koreans. The individuals infected with subtype A viruses had been diagnosed as HIV-1 seropositives during the period 1987 to 1995 and blood samples have been collected from 1991 to 1997. DNA of each individual was isolated from uncultured or cultured peripheral blood mononuclear cells. V3-V5 (0.7 kb) fragment of HIV-1 rev gene was amplified by nested polymerase chain reaction and the PCR products were sequenced. The mean value of the divergence of nucleotide of HIV-1 euv V3-V5 fragment was 17.0+/-4.06% (8.6~25.8%) within HIV-1 subtype A isolates from Koreans. This diversity was higher than those of African isolates (13.7+/-2.66%). In the phylogenetic tree, Korean subtype A isolates were not grouped together, but intermingled into African isolates. The results of this study suggested that HIV-1 subtype A variants be introduced from multiple sites of Africa into Korea and the big genetic diversity of Korea HIV-1 subtype A isolates may be further influenced by the range of geographic locations in which the infection occurred rather than the elapsed time between infection and collection of samples and the disease progression.