Co-receptor tropism prediction among 1045 Indian HIV-1 subtype C sequences: Therapeutic implications for India.
BACKGROUND
Understanding co-receptor tropism of HIV-1 strains circulating in India will provide key analytical leverage for assessing the potential usefulness of newer antiretroviral drugs such as chemokine co-receptor antagonists among Indian HIV-infected populations. The objective of this study was to determine using in silico methods, HIV-1 tropism among a large number of Indian isolates both from primary clinical isolates as well as from database-derived sequences.


RESULTS
R5-tropism was seen in 96.8% of a total of 1045 HIV-1 subtype C Indian sequences. Co-receptor prediction of 15 primary clinical isolates detected two X4-tropic strains using the C-PSSM matrix. R5-tropic HIV-1 subtype C V3 sequences were conserved to a greater extent than X4-tropic strains. X4-tropic strains were obtained from subjects who had a significantly longer time since HIV diagnosis (96.5 months) compared to R5-tropic strains (20.5 months).


CONCLUSIONS
High prevalence of R5 tropism and greater homogeneity of the V3 sequence among HIV-1 subtype C strains in India suggests the potential benefit of CCR5 antagonists as a therapeutic option in India.
Neogi
Ujjwal
U
Department of Pediatrics, St, John's Medical College and Hospital, St, John's National Academy of Health Sciences, Sarjapur Road, Bangalore-560034, India. anitashet@gmail.com.
Prarthana
Sreenivasa B
SB
D'Souza
George
G
Decosta
Ayesha
A
Kuttiatt
Vijesh S
VS
Ranga
Udaykumar
U
Shet
Anita
A