Extensive HIV-1 intra-host recombination is common in tissues with abnormal histopathology.
There is evidence that immune-activated macrophages infected with the Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) are associated with tissue damage and serve as a long-lived viral reservoir during therapy. In this study, we analyzed 780 HIV genetic sequences generated from 53 tissues displaying normal and abnormal histopathology. We found up to 50% of the sequences from abnormal lymphoid and macrophage rich non-lymphoid tissues were intra-host viral recombinants. The presence of extensive recombination, especially in non-lymphoid tissues, implies that HIV-1 infected macrophages may significantly contribute to the generation of elusive viral genotypes in vivo. Because recombination has been implicated in immune evasion, the acquisition of drug-resistance mutations, and alterations of viral co-receptor usage, any attempt towards the successful eradication of HIV-1 requires therapeutic approaches targeting tissue macrophages.
Lamers
Susanna L
SL
BioInfoExperts, Thibodaux, LA, USA.
Salemi
Marco
M
Galligan
Derek C
DC
de Oliveira
Tulio
T
Fogel
Gary B
GB
Granier
Sara C
SC
Zhao
Li
L
Brown
Joseph N
JN
Morris
Alanna
A
Masliah
Eliezer
E
McGrath
Michael S
MS