Speaker
Description
Background: There is a pressing need to monitor the circulating strains and the emergence of novel HIV-1 variants in the country, especially in the understudied South-south regions. Thus, this study aimed to characterize the genetic diversity of HIV-1, tropisms, and drug-resistant mutations (DRMs) among HIV-infected individuals in the region.
Methods:
One hundred and six HIV-infected patients were enrolled in this study (ages 18-70 years). CD4 counts were measured using the Partec CyFlow and plasma viral loads (PVL) were determined using the ART assay. RNA was extracted and amplified using a nested RT-PCR strategy. HIV-1 subtypes were analyzed using the HIV LANL database and the phylogenetic tree was constructed using MEGA 5.2. DRMs were evaluated using the Stanford algorithm. Co-receptor usage was predicted by Geno2Pheno co-receptor bioinformatics analysis. Pearson’s correlation analysis was performed at p< 0.05 level.
Results:
The mean CD4 cell count was 440+196 cells/μl. PVL ranged from 20 to 1,429,707 copies/mL. Also, 60 with PVL >5000 copies/ml were successfully genotyped in env and/or pol genes. Circulating and unique recombinant forms (CRFs and URFs) of HIV-1 predominated in the study. CRF02_AG (22.0%) was the most predominant, followed by subtype G and URF_A1F2 (18.0%). URFs (28.3%) and CRFs (36.7%) comprised a dominating group of viruses, genotypically identified in 17 and 22 samples, respectively. The DRMs occurred in 50.0% with 23.5% and 12.0% having thymidine analogue mutations and polymorphisms, respectively. M184V/I (38.9%) and K103N (30.4%) are major mutations observed. Subtype-specific polymorphisms with V179E/I/M and K238R occurred in HIV-1 subtypes A1, B, G, and CRF02_AG. Co-receptor analysis revealed that 80.0% of the sequences had GPGQ crown motifs and only 10.0% had all 4 N-linked glycosylation sites. The CCR5 tropic viruses (66.7%) predominated over CXCR-4 viruses (33.3%) while H13Y/S/T/R mutation predominated in 48.1% with X4-phenotype.
Conclusions:
This study identified a broad genetic diversity of circulating HIV-1 strains and the emergence of novel variants. Continuous molecular surveillance in diverse regions of Nigeria is recommended as this will reveal whether the intermixing of HIV-1 variants in Nigeria proceeds and what clinical consequences it brings in its wave.
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