HIV-1 superinfections in a cohort of commercial sex workers in Burkina Faso as assessed by an autologous heteroduplex mobility procedure.
OBJECTIVE
To describe and evaluate a simple procedure to identify HIV-1 co- or super-infections based on a heteroduplex mobility assay (HMA).


METHODS
To identify heteroduplexes corresponding to divergent viral populations in a the same individual, HMA was applied to single DNA samples from each subject in a prospective cohort of commercial sex workers (CSW) in Bobo-Dioulasso, Burkina Faso. After denaturation and renaturation of env DNA amplicons, hybridized DNA was separated by electrophoresis through polyacrylamide gel. HIV-1 co-infections were suspected by slow migration of heteroduplex, at a level comparable to that of mixed reference strains. Following electrophoresis, DNA in bands representing heteroduplex was extracted and cloned in a plasmid vector; identification of phylogenetically distinct clones was confirmed by sequencing divergent clones identified through a second HMA step of a pair of two mixed clones.


RESULTS
Among 147 HIV-1 infected CSW, four had an autologous HMA profile comparable to low mobility of hybridized DNA from mixed reference strains representing most frequent HIV-1 clades and circulating recombinant forms (CRF) prevalent in Burkina Faso. In two of them, two phylogenetically distinct HIV-1 populations were coexisting. The first woman presented with a CRF02-AG and CRF06-cpx co-infection, and the second with a CRF02-AG and a divergent virus co-infection not significantly related to any other known subtypes. In both women, retrospective analyses of stored samples by the same HMA procedure showed acquisition of a second virus concomitent with an increasing plasma HIV RNA.


CONCLUSIONS
Autologous HMA procedure followed by acrylamide extraction of heteroduplexes allowed identifying HIV-1 co- and super-infections in a large cohort study. HIV-1 super-infection is not an uncommon phenomenon.
Manigart
Olivier
O
Centre Muraz, 01 BP 390 Bobo-Dioulasso, Burkina Faso.
Courgnaud
Valérie
V
Sanou
Oumar
O
Valéa
Diane
D
Nagot
Nicolas
N
Meda
Nicolas
N
Delaporte
Eric
E
Peeters
Martine
M
Van de Perre
Philippe
P
D017088:AIDS-Related Opportunistic Infections / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000235:genetics; D000328:Adult; D002050:Burkina Faso / Q000453:epidemiology; D015331:Cohort Studies; D004279:DNA, Viral / Q000032:analysis; D005260:Female; D015752:Genes, env / Q000235:genetics; D015658:HIV Infections / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000235:genetics; D015497:HIV-1 / Q000235:genetics*; D020180:Heteroduplex Analysis / Q000379:methods*; D006801:Humans; D009693:Nucleic Acid Hybridization / Q000379:methods; D010802:Phylogeny; D015995:Prevalence; D012367:RNA, Viral / Q000097:blood; D011995:Recombination, Genetic / Q000235:genetics; D011477:Sex Work; D015163:Superinfection / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000235:genetics; D019562:Viral Load
D004279:DNA, Viral; D012367:RNA, Viral