title: Mutations in the nef and vif genes associated with progression to AIDS in elite controller and slow-progressor patients.
abstract: Progression towards AIDS can vary from 5 to 10 years from the establishment of the primary infection by HIV-1 to more than 10 years in the complete absence of antiretroviral therapy. Several factors can contribute to the outcome of HIV infection, including host genetic and viral replicating characteristics. Historically, nef-deleted viral genomes have been associated with disease progression. Therefore, the lentiviral Nef protein is regarded as a progression factor. The objective of this work was to characterize the nef gene from a group of treatment naive patients infected with HIV-1 for more than 10 years. These patients were classified as long-term non-progressors, elite controller, and slow-progressors according to clinical and laboratorial data. A premature stop codon within the nef gene leading to the expression of a truncated peptide was observed on samples from the elite controller patient. For the slow-progressor patients, several degrees of deletions at the C-terminal of Nef were observed predicting a loss of function of this protein. The vif gene was characterized for these patients and a rare mutation that predicts a miss localization of the Vif protein to the nucleus of infected cells that could prevent its function as an APOBEC neutralization factor was also observed. These data indicate the importance of the HIV accessory proteins as factors that contribute to the outcome of AIDS.
authors: Department of Virology, Institute of Microbiology Paulo de Góes, Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
authors: Nadia V G
authors: NV
authors: Cruz
authors: Raquel
authors: R
authors: Amorim
authors: Fátima E
authors: FE
authors: Oliveira
authors: Francisco A C
authors: FA
authors: Speranza
authors: Luciana J
authors: LJ
authors: Costa
mesh_terms: D000163:Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome / Q000821:virology*; D018450:Disease Progression; D020276:HIV Long-Term Survivors; D015497:HIV-1 / Q000235:genetics* / Q000472:pathogenicity*; D006801:Humans; D009154:Mutation; D054311:nef Gene Products, Human Immunodeficiency Virus / Q000235:genetics*; D054320:vif Gene Products, Human Immunodeficiency Virus / Q000235:genetics*
chemical_list: D054311:nef Gene Products, Human Immunodeficiency Virus; C514837:nef protein, Human immunodeficiency virus 1; D054320:vif Gene Products, Human Immunodeficiency Virus; C514847:vif protein, Human immunodeficiency virus 1