title: In vitro replication capacity of HIV-2 variants from long-term aviremic individuals.
abstract: To establish whether efficient suppression of virus replication in HIV-2-infected individuals is associated with low replicative capacity of HIV-2, replication kinetics of HIV-2 variants from long-term aviremic individuals was analyzed and compared with that of the relatively slow-replicating HIV-1 variants from asymptomatics and long-term nonprogressors (AS/LTNP). On average, HIV-2 from aviremic individuals had lower replication rates than HIV-1 variants from AS/LTNP in cells of 8 donors (0.45 log10 [range 0.14-0.77] vs. 0.58 log10 [range 0.32-0.99] pg RT/ml/day, P = 0.036). The relatively low replication rate of HIV-2 compared to HIV-1 variants was not related to different sensitivities to inhibition by CD8+ T cells or different degrees of infectivity. HIV-2 replication rates increased with progressive infection and with switch from CCR5 to CXCR4 usage. The relatively low replicative capacity of HIV-2 variants from aviremic individuals likely contributes to the low viral load and benign course of infection in these individuals.
authors.affiliation: Department of Virology, Erasmus Medical Center (Erasmus MC), Dr. Molewaterplein 50, 3015 GE Rotterdam, The Netherlands. h.blaak@erasmusmc.nl
authors.forename: Hetty
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Blaak
authors.forename: Marchina E
authors.initials: ME
authors.lastname: van der Ende
authors.forename: Patrick H M
authors.initials: PH
authors.lastname: Boers
authors.forename: Hanneke
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Schuitemaker
authors.forename: Albert D M E
authors.initials: AD
authors.lastname: Osterhaus
mesh_terms: D016022:Case-Control Studies; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D014644:Genetic Variation; D020276:HIV Long-Term Survivors; D015498:HIV-2 / Q000145:classification / Q000235:genetics / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D066298:In Vitro Techniques; D007700:Kinetics; D013997:Time Factors; D019562:Viral Load; D014766:Viremia / Q000821:virology*; D014779:Virus Replication