Work

Long-Term Control of Viral Replication in a Group O, Human Immunodeficiency Virus Type 1-Infected Individual

Year: 2014

Type: article

Abstract: E ditor: HIV-1 is classically classified into three main groups: M (major), N (non-M, non-O), and O (outlier), 1 with Group P being identified most recently. 2Evolutionary studies suggest each group represents a distinct cross species transmission of SIV cpz or SIV gor into the human population. 2,3HIV-1, Group O has mostly remained endemic to Cameroon and inaccurate diagnosis of Group O infection is a major barrier to treatment in this country. 4A unique subset of individuals, termed long-term nonprogressors (LTNPs), is able to maintain stable CD4 + T cell counts for greater than 5 years in the absence of antiretroviral therapy.Here we report a patient infected with a Group O HIV-1 isolate who has maintained long-term control of HIV replication in the absence of antiretroviral treatment (ART).The patient is a 38-year-old treatment-naive female originally from Cameroon.She was diagnosed with HIV-1 infection in 1998 in Cameroon, and first presented to the United States in 2004 with an initial CD4 count of 576 and a viral load of < 50 copies/ml as measured by the Roche AMPLI-COR HIV-1 MONITOR 1.5 ultrasensitive assay.She maintained stable CD4 + T cell counts and viral loads of < 50 copies/ml in the absence of ART (Fig. 1A) over the next 6 years.The rate of CD4 + T cell decline was calculated as described previously. 5We found that there was no significant decline in CD4 + T cells between 2005 and 2010 ( p = 0.0615).HLA typing revealed that she was HLA-A*02/ 66 and HLA-B*42/53 positive.Virus was cultured from the patient's latent reservoir as previously described 6 in 2010 and designated JHGO1.Phylogenetic analysis was performed on full length env sequences of the patient's virus compared to Group O, N, and M isolates.Classical, maximum likelihood, and Bayesian phylogenetic analysis was performed.The patient's virus was most closely related to HIV-1, Group O (Fig. 1B).Group O nested-PCR primers were developed utilizing full genome Group O sequences from the Los Alamos HIV Sequence database and full genome sequencing was performed (GenBank accession number JN571034).

Source: AIDS Research and Human Retroviruses

DOI: 10.1089/aid.2014.0054