title: Molecular characterization of human T-cell lymphotropic virus coinfecting human immunodeficiency virus 1 infected patients in the Amazon region of Brazil.
abstract: The present work evaluated the epidemiology of human immunodeficiency virus 1/human T-cell lymphotropic virus (HIV-1/HTLV) coinfection in patients living in Belém (state of Pará) and Macapá (state of Amapá), two cities located in the Amazon region of Brazil. A total of 169 blood samples were collected. The sera were tested by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay to determine the presence of antibodies anti-HTLV-1/2. Confirmation of infection and discrimination of HTLV types and subtypes was performed using a nested polymerase chain reaction targeting the pX and 5' LTR regions, followed by restriction fragment length polymorphism and sequencing analysis. The presence of anti-HTLV1/2 was detected in six patients from Belém. The amplification of the pX region followed by RFLP analysis, demonstrated the presence of HTLV-1 and HTLV-2 infections among two and four patients, respectively. Sequencing HTLV-1 5' LTR indicated that the virus is a member of the Cosmopolitan Group, Transcontinental subgroup. HTLV-2 strains isolated revealed a molecular profile of subtype HTLV-2c. These results are a reflex of the epidemiological features of HIV-1/HTLV-1/2 coinfection in the North region of Brazil, which is distinct from other Brazilian regions, as reported by previous studies.
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Patologia, Centro de Ciências Biológicas, Universidade Federal do Pará, 66075-900 Belém, PA, Brazil.
authors.forename: R V
authors.initials: RV
authors.lastname: Laurentino
authors.forename: I G L
authors.initials: IG
authors.lastname: Lopes
authors.forename: V N
authors.initials: VN
authors.lastname: Azevedo
authors.forename: L F A
authors.initials: LF
authors.lastname: Machado
authors.forename: M R C
authors.initials: MR
authors.lastname: Moreira
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Lobato
authors.forename: M O G
authors.initials: MO
authors.lastname: Ishak
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Ishak
authors.forename: A C R
authors.initials: AC
authors.lastname: Vallinoto
mesh_terms: D001938:Brazil / Q000453:epidemiology; D005260:Female; D015658:HIV Infections / Q000150:complications*; D015497:HIV-1; D015490:HTLV-I Infections / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000821:virology; D015491:HTLV-II Infections / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000821:virology; D015368:Human T-lymphotropic virus 1 / Q000235:genetics*; D015367:Human T-lymphotropic virus 2 / Q000235:genetics*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D010802:Phylogeny; D015995:Prevalence