Molecular epidemiology of HIV type 1 infection in Iran: genomic evidence of CRF35_AD predominance and CRF01_AE infection among individuals associated with injection drug use.
To understand the molecular epidemiology of HIV-1 infection in Iran, we conducted the first study to analyze the genome sequence of Iranian HIV-1 isolates. For this cross-sectional study, we enrolled 10 HIV-1-infected individuals associated with injection drug use from Tehran, Shiraz, and Kermanshah. Near full-length genome sequences obtained from their plasma samples were used for phylogenetic tree and similarity plotting analyses. Among 10 isolates, nine were clearly identified as CRF35_AD and the remaining one as CRF01_AE. Interestingly, five of our Iranian CRF35_AD isolates made two clusters with 10 Afghan CRF35_AD isolates in a phylogenetic tree, indicating epidemiological connections among injection drug users in Iran and Afghanistan. In contrast, our CRF01_AE isolate had no genetic relationship with any other CRF01_AE isolates worldwide, even from Afghanistan. This study provides the first genomic evidence of HIV-1 CRF35_AD predominance and CRF01_AE infection among individuals associated with injection drug use in Iran.
Department of Virology, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
Fatemeh
F
Jahanbakhsh
Shiro
S
Ibe
Junko
J
Hattori
Seyed Hamid Reza
SH
Monavari
Masakazu
M
Matsuda
Masami
M
Maejima
Yasumasa
Y
Iwatani
Arash
A
Memarnejadian
Hossein
H
Keyvani
Kayhan
K
Azadmanesh
Wataru
W
Sugiura
D000328:Adult; D001483:Base Sequence; D005260:Female; D016679:Genome, Viral / Q000235:genetics; D006678:HIV / Q000235:genetics*; D015658:HIV Infections / Q000209:etiology / Q000235:genetics / Q000821:virology*; D006801:Humans; D007492:Iran / Q000453:epidemiology; D008297:Male; D017720:Molecular Epidemiology; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D010802:Phylogeny; D015819:Substance Abuse, Intravenous / Q000150:complications / Q000821:virology*; D055815:Young Adult