AEGiS-12IAC: Intrapatient variability of HIV-1 group O ANT70 during a ten year follow up.

12th International AIDS Conference

Geneva, Switzerland - June 28-July 3, 1998

Intrapatient variability of HIV-1 group O ANT70 during a ten year follow up.

Int Conf AIDS 1998 Jun 28-Jul 3; 12:17 (abstract no. 11174)

Janssens W, Nkengasong J, Heyndrickx L, Vereecken K, Coppens S, Willems B, Van der Groen G
Department of Microbiology, Institute of Tropical Medicine, Antwerp, Belgium.

OBJECTIVE: To determine over a ten year period the nucleotide sequence diversity within an individual infected with HIV-1 ANT70, and to verify the association with plasma viral load, CD4+ T cell counts, and syncytia induction on MT2 cells.

MATERIALS AND METHODS: RT-PCR, cloning, sequencing, genetic and phylogenetic analysis of the V3C3 encoding env fragment were performed on plasma of eight follow up samples taken over ten years from the ANT70 infected individual. Plasma viral load, CD4+ T cell counts, and syncytia induction on MT2 cells were determined as described previously (Nkengasong et al., J Med Virol 1997; 51: 202-209).

RESULTS: Analysis of the V3C3 encoding sequences of follow up samples taken from the ANT70 infected individual revealed extensive increasing intrapatient variation. For instance, the average V3C3 amino acid variation for the sequential samples as compared with the first VI70 sample was 10.4%, 14.4%, 20.1%, 28.9%, 29.6%, 32.5%, and 34.6% for samples taken at 12, 27, 42, 70, 90, 110, and 118 months, following the start of the study. Plasma RNA viral load varied from 2.300 (1989) to 23.000 (1995) and 2.300 copies per ml (1996, 1997). CD4 counts declined steadily to 200 counts/microliter in 1993. A switch from NSI to SI variants was observed in 1997. This individual has remained asymptomatic and clinically healthy (clinical stage WHO 1, CDC II) even though she did not receive any Retroviral therapy for HIV-1 before April 1995.

CONCLUSION: A high intrasample V3 loop sequence variation was observed among ANT70 over a ten year study period. As the course of the disease in the HIV-1 ANT70 infected woman was similar in many ways to that of group M infected individuals, the reason of the changes observed in the V3 loop is still unclear. Whether they are critical for disease progression remains to be elucidated.

Keywords: AEGIS, HIV-1, Viral Load, CD4 Lymphocyte Count, Variation (Genetics), Giant Cells, Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction, Human, Female, genetics, ICA12
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