Genetic diversity of human immunodeficiency virus type-1 (HIV-1) in infected women from a northeast city of Brazil

PURPOSE: to describe the genetic diversity of HIV-1 isolates from serum positive women followed up at a reference center. METHODS: transversal study, including 96 women with two ELISA serological tests and a Western Blot confirmatory test. The viral charge was determined by the b-DNA kit, and the counting of T CD4 and T CD8 lymphocytes, by the Excalibur flow cytometry, from the samples of peripheral blood. The extraction and purification of pro-viral DNA was performed by the polymerase (PCR) chain reaction, using the QIAamp Blood kit (Qiagen Inc., Chatsworth, CA, U.S.A.). Sequencing of the pol region was done in 52 isolates with the 3100 Genetic Analyzer (Applied Biosystems Inc., Foster City, CA), and the genotyping was assessed by the Rega Subtyping Tool. The resistance pattern to anti-retrovirals (ARV) was inferred by the algorithm from the Stanford HIV Resistance data bank. Participants' clinical stages were defined as A, B or C, according to the criteria established by the Center for Diseases Control (CDC). For statistical analysis, the χ2 test was used for the categorical variables and the Student's t test, for the numerical variables. RESULTS: The average age of the sample, the disease and treatment average duration were respectively: 33.7 years old, 3.8 and 2.5 years. The viral charge average was log10 2.3 copies/mL; the T CD4 e T CD8 lymphocytes, 494.9 cells/µL and 1126.4 cells/µL. Concerning the clinical stage, 30 women were in stage A, 47 in B and 19 in C. Sequencing from the 52 isolates found 33 of B subtype, 4 of F, 1 of C and 14 of BF recombinant. The analysis of resistance to ARV has shown 39 (75.0%) susceptible isolates, 13 (25.0%) resistant to reversal transcriptase inhibitors (RTIN), and 3 (5.7%) resistant to protease inhibitor (PI). CONCLUSIONS: There has been a large variety of HIV-1 and a high percentage of isolates resistant to ARV in the studied sample.

HIV-1; Genetic variation; Genotype; Drug resistance; Clinical evolution