Intrapatient variability of the human immunodeficiency virus type 2 envelope V3 loop.
Studies of HIV-2 infection have shown lower rates of sexual and perinatal transmission and a prolonged incubation period to AIDS as compared to HIV-1. To evaluate the role of genetic variation in HIV pathogenesis, we studied intrapatient variability in the V3 loop of the HIV-2 envelope gene over time in five seropositive individuals. Proviral sequences derived from uncultured PBMC DNA (n = 102) demonstrated an average sequence heterogeneity within a sample of 1.4% (0-4.1%). This was significantly lower than the V3 sequence heterogeneity observed in HIV-1, which can be as high as 6.1%. In HIV-2-seropositive healthy patients the average intrapatient nucleotide variability rate was 0.6% compared to 2.0% in patients with clinical AIDS. The lower rate of variability between HIV-2 and HIV-1 is compatible with differences in transmission and pathogenesis of these two related viruses.
Sankalé
J L
JL
Department of Cancer Biology, Harvard School of Public Health, Boston, Massachusetts 02115, USA.
de la Tour
R S
RS
Renjifo
B
B
Siby
T
T
Mboup
S
S
Marlink
R G
RG
Essex
M E
ME
Kanki
P J
PJ
D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D001483:Base Sequence; D018791:CD4 Lymphocyte Count; D017931:DNA Primers; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D014644:Genetic Variation; D015699:HIV Envelope Protein gp120 / Q000235:genetics*; D015658:HIV Infections / Q000097:blood / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000821:virology*; D015497:HIV-1 / Q000235:genetics; D015498:HIV-2 / Q000235:genetics* / Q000302:isolation & purification; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D010446:Peptide Fragments / Q000235:genetics*; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction; D017386:Sequence Homology, Amino Acid
D017931:DNA Primers; D015699:HIV Envelope Protein gp120; C059762:HIV envelope protein gp120 (305-321); D010446:Peptide Fragments