Polymorphisms of vpr gene of human immunodeficiency virus type 1 in China / 中华传染病杂志

ABSTRACT

Objective To compare the mutation sites in human immunodefieiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) vpr gene via of HIV-1 infected individuals from different regions in China with the previous studies, and to provide information for the further study on the relationship between HIV-1 vpr gene mutations and clinical conditions of the patients. Methods Reverse transcription-polymerasc chain reaction (RT-PCR) and nested PCR were used to amplify HIV-1 vpr gene of 398 HIV-1 infected individuals. The amino acid sequences were analyzed to determine polymorphisms, deviation rate and common mutation sites of HIV-1 vpr gene. Meanwhile, the viral load, subsets of lymphocytes and clinical course of patients infected with mutated HIV-1 were analyzed. Results One hundred and fifty three positive samples which were obtained from 398 HIV-1 infected individuals were available for further analysis. The amino acids sequence typing of HIV-1 Vpr were showed that CRF01 AE was 51.63%, subtype C 24.84%, subtype B 17.65%, CRF03_ AB 3.92% and CRF08 BC 1.31%. Eighty four point three percent of 77th amino acid of HIV Vpr sequence was glutamic acid which was significantly different from what overseas researches reported that the R77Q mutation was correlated with long-term non-progression (LTNP) of AIDS. The mutations of the, 63th, 70th, 85th, 86th, 89th and 94th amino acids of HIV Vpr were likely related to the clinical remission of HIV-1 infected individuals. Conclusions M group is the main type of HIV Vpr typing in China, and CRF01 AE is predominant. Some amino acid mutation sites of HIV-1 Vpr are possibly correlated with clinical manifestations of HIV-1 infected individuals.