AEGiS-11IAC: Viral subtype analysis of HIV-1 infected patients from Pune, India.

11th International AIDS Conference


Vancouver, British Columbia — July 7-12, 1996

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Viral subtype analysis of HIV-1 infected patients from Pune, India.

Int Conf AIDS 1996 Jul 7-12; 11:224 (abstract no. Tu.A.374)
Gadkari DA, Moore D, Sheppard H, Mehendale S, Kulkarni S, Bollinger R; National AIDS Research Institute, Pune, India. Fax: 212-791071. E-mail: root@nar.ernet.in.

OBJECTIVE: To identify HIV-1 subtypes in samples collected from HIV-1 seropositive and seroconverter patients attending the STD clinics in Pune, India.

METHODS: Blood samples collected from 46 HIV-1-infected individuals attending two STD clinics in Pune, India. Of these patients, 26 were seropositive at presentation and 20 were seroconverters in a prospective study between June 1994 and July 1995. DNA was extracted from peripheral blood mononuclear cells and Heteroduplex mapping analysis (HMA) was performed to determine nucleotide homologies with reference viral subtypes within the V3, V4 and V5 variable regions of HIV-1 genome.

RESULTS: Of the 46 samples studied, 44 (96%) were identified as subtype C. One of the patients was found to be infected with subtype A and the other with subtype B. All subtype C samples were further analyzed for their maximum homology to previously characterized subtype C reference strains C1 (Malawi), C2 (Zambia) and C3 (India). Twenty nine (66%) of the samples were most homologous to C3 while 15 (34%) were most homologous to the C2 reference strain. No significant difference was observed when the data were analyzed on the basis of seropositive or serconverters' samples. In addition, most of the C3 samples were closely homologous (approximately 5% nucleotide mismatches) to each other while C2 samples showed more divergence (10-15% mismatches) within the C2 genotype. Presence of variants or quasispecies was observed more in samples from seropositive patients than seroconverters, irrespective of the C2 or C3 genotype.

CONCLUSION: These data report the largest analysis to date of HIV-1 viral subtypes from India from both seroprevalent patients and recent seroconverters. Three HIV-1 subtypes (C, A and B) and two genotypes of C subtype (C2 and C3) were identified in samples collected from patients attending the same clinics. The higher genetic divergence observed in C2 samples, suggests an earlier introduction in India. The C3 genotype may represent a more recent mutational variant of subtype C unique to India.

Keywords: AEGIS, HIV-1, HIV Seropositivity, HIV-1 Reverse Transcriptase, Heteroduplex Analysis, Variation (Genetics), Genotype, Complement 2, India, Malawi, Zambia, Prospective Studies, Human, virology, analysis, genetics, ICA11KWDaegis,hiv-1,hivseropositivity,hiv-1reversetranscriptase,heteroduplexanalysis,variation(genetics),genotype,complement2,india,malawi,zambia,prospectivestudies,human,virology,analysis,genetics,ica11

960707
TuA374

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