title: Significant genetic and antigenic variability within the env gene of systemic human immunodeficiency virus type 1 group O populations during the natural course of a heterosexual infection: a pilot study.
abstract: We assessed the genetic and the antigenic variability within the env gene of peripheral blood human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) type 1 (HIV-1) group O populations during the natural course of a female heterosexual infection. Our data revealed the existence of a significant increase in amino acid sequence variability within the C2-V3 and gp41 regions (P = 0.023 and P < 0.001, respectively) in association with substitutions within neutralizing epitope sequences usually selected for HIV serological assays. These antigenic variations might significantly decrease the sensitivity of classical HIV enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays with blood samples of subjects heterosexually infected by HIV-1 group O strains. These findings may be of significant use both to devise diagnostic tools and to pursue suitable therapeutic modalities in cases of heterosexual infection by outlier HIV-1 strains.
authors.affiliation: Laboratoire de Virologie et EA-3798, Hôpital Robert Debré, Avenue du Général Koenig, 51092 Reims Cedex, France. landreoletti@chu-reims.fr.
authors.forename: Laurent
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Andréoletti
authors.forename: Brigitte
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Réveil
authors.forename: Hélène
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Moret
authors.forename: Véronique
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Brodard
authors.forename: Frédérique
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Philbert
authors.forename: Thierry
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Tabary
authors.forename: Jacques Henri Max
authors.initials: JH
authors.lastname: Cohen
mesh_terms: D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D019943:Amino Acid Substitution / Q000235:genetics; D000940:Antigenic Variation / Q000235:genetics*; D001483:Base Sequence; D001769:Blood / Q000821:virology; D000939:Epitopes / Q000235:genetics; D005260:Female; D015752:Genes, env; D014644:Genetic Variation; D015699:HIV Envelope Protein gp120 / Q000235:genetics; D015700:HIV Envelope Protein gp41 / Q000235:genetics; D015658:HIV Infections / Q000821:virology*; D015497:HIV-1 / Q000145:classification* / Q000235:genetics* / Q000302:isolation & purification; D020010:Heterosexuality; D006801:Humans; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D010865:Pilot Projects
chemical_list: D000939:Epitopes; D015699:HIV Envelope Protein gp120; D015700:HIV Envelope Protein gp41