Analysis of HIV-1 Protease Gene Reveals Frequent Multiple Infections Followed by Recombination among Drug Treated Individuals Living in São Paulo and Santos, Brazil

• Autor(a) principal: Nunes, Edsel Renata de Morais [UNIFESP]
• Data de Publicação: 2014
• Outros Autores: Zukurov, Jean Paulo [UNIFESP], Maricato, Juliana Terzi [UNIFESP], Sucupira, Maria Cecília Araripe [UNIFESP], Diaz, Ricardo Sobhie [UNIFESP], Janini, Luiz Mário Ramos[UNIFESP]
• Tipo de documento: Artigo
• Idioma: eng
• Título da fonte: Repositório Institucional da UNIFESP
• Texto Completo: http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0084066; http://repositorio.unifesp.br/handle/11600/37307

The present study investigated the prevalence of HIV-1 multiple infections in a population composed by 47 patients under HAART failure and enrolled at the National DST/AIDS, Program, Ministry of Health, Brazil. Detection of multiple infections was done using a previously published RFLP assay for the HIV-1 protease gene, which is able of distinguishing between infections caused by a single or multiple HIV-1 subtypes. Samples with multiple infections were cloned, and sequence data submitted to phylogenetic analysis. We were able to identify 17 HIV-1 multiple infections out of 47 samples. Multiple infections were mostly composed by a mixture of recombinant viruses (94%), with only one case in which protease gene pure subtypes B and F were recovered. This is the first study that reports the prevalence of multiple infections and intersubtype recombinants in a population undergoing HAART in Brazil. Based on the data there was a steep increase of multiple infections after the introduction of the combined antiretroviral therapy in Brazil. Cases of multiple infections may be associated with HIV-1 genetic diversity through recombination allowing for the generation of viruses showing a combination of resistance mutations.