title: Serological approaches to subtyping of HIV-1 in injecting drug users in Russia: evidence of subtype homogeneity at the main sites of the epidemic.
abstract: The aim of this study was to develop and evaluate a simple V3 peptide-based enzyme immunoassay (PEIA) for large-scale serotyping of HIV-1 specimens derived from injecting drug users (IDUs) in the Russian Federation. Two synthetic peptides were evaluated, named P1 (RKSIHIGPGRAFYATGD) and P2 (RTSVRIGPGQVFYKTGD), in an PEIA on 63 HIV-1 IDUs sera for which genotypes had been determined by heteroduplex mobility assay (HMA) and sequencing. The sensitivities of P1 (subtype B) and P2 (subtype A) were 87% and 75% respectively. Specificity of the assay was 100% for both peptides, with 100% predictive values of a monoreactive positive test for both peptides. Using the PEIA with peptides P1 and P2, we have serotyped 375 of 477 serum samples derived from IDUs in 4 main sites of the HIV-1 epidemic in Russia. The results demonstrated a high level of subtype homogeneity in all regions studied. In 3 of 4 territories, Tver' (n=345), and Rostov-on-Don (n=61) regions, and Krasnodar Kray (n=27), 100% of typable sera were found to belong to env subtype A. On the other hand, all specimens serotyped in the Kaliningrad region (n=38) belonged to env subtype B, and there is strong evidence that the recombinant gagAenvB virus which has caused the largest outbreak of HIV-1 in Russia is located in this region. At the present time another parental strain with gagBenvB genotype is of minor importance in the IDUs HIV-1 epidemic in Russia.
authors.affiliation: Federal AIDS Centre, Moscow, Russia.
authors.forename: M R
authors.initials: MR
authors.lastname: Bobkova
authors.forename: E V
authors.initials: EV
authors.lastname: Kazennova
authors.forename: L M
authors.initials: LM
authors.lastname: Selimova
authors.forename: E V
authors.initials: EV
authors.lastname: Buravtsova
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Lister
authors.forename: A G
authors.initials: AG
authors.lastname: Prilipov
authors.forename: J N
authors.initials: JN
authors.lastname: Weber
authors.forename: V V
authors.initials: VV
authors.lastname: Pokrovsky
authors.forename: A F
authors.initials: AF
authors.lastname: Bobkov
mesh_terms: D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D005838:Genotype; D015699:HIV Envelope Protein gp120 / Q000235:genetics; D015658:HIV Infections / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000821:virology*; D015497:HIV-1 / Q000145:classification* / Q000235:genetics / Q000276:immunology; D006801:Humans; D007124:Immunoenzyme Techniques; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D009692:Nucleic Acid Heteroduplexes; D010446:Peptide Fragments / Q000235:genetics / Q000276:immunology; D011994:Recombinant Proteins / Q000276:immunology; D012426:Russia / Q000453:epidemiology; D012703:Serotyping; D015819:Substance Abuse, Intravenous / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000821:virology*
chemical_list: D015699:HIV Envelope Protein gp120; C059762:HIV envelope protein gp120 (305-321); D009692:Nucleic Acid Heteroduplexes; D010446:Peptide Fragments; D011994:Recombinant Proteins