Alarming rates of virological failure and HIV-1 drug resistance amongst adolescents living with perinatal HIV in both urban and rural settings: evidence from the EDCTP READY-study in Cameroon.

OBJECTIVES: Adolescents living with perinatal HIV infection (ALPHI) experience persistently high mortality rates, particularly in resource-limited settings. It is therefore clinically important for us to understand the therapeutic response, acquired HIV drug resistance (HIVDR) and associated factors among ALPHI, according to geographical location. METHODS: A study was conducted among consenting ALPHI in two urban and two rural health facilities in the Centre Region of Cameroon. World Health Organization (WHO) clinical staging, self-reported adherence, HIVDR early warning indicators (EWIs), immunological status (CD4 count) and plasma viral load (VL) were assessed. For those experiencing virological failure (VF, VL ≥ 1000 copies/mL), HIVDR testing was performed and interpreted using the Stanford HIV Drug Resistance Database v.8.9-1. RESULTS: Of the 270 participants, most were on nonnucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitor (NNRTI)-based regimens (61.7% urban vs. 82.2% rural), and about one-third were poorly adherent (30.1% vs. 35.1%). Clinical failure rates (WHO-stage III/IV) in both settings were < 15%. In urban settings, the immunological failure (IF) rate (CD4  < 250 cells/µL) was 15.8%, statistically associated with late adolescence, female gender and poor adherence. The VF rate was 34.2%, statistically associated with poor adherence and NNRTI-based antiretroviral therapy. In the rural context, the IF rate was 26.9% and the VF rate was 52.7%, both statistically associated with advanced clinical stages. HIVDR rate was over 90% in both settings. EWIs were delayed drug pick-up, drug stock-outs and suboptimal viral suppression. CONCLUSIONS: Poor adherence, late adolescent age, female gender and advanced clinical staging worsen IF. The VF rate is high and consistent with the presence of HIVDR in both settings, driven by poor adherence, NNRTI-based regimen and advanced clinical staging.

Monitoring of early warning indicators for HIV drug resistance in antiretroviral therapy clinics in Zimbabwe.

Monitoring human immunodeficiency virus drug resistance (HIVDR) early warning indicators (EWIs) can help national antiretroviral treatment (ART) programs to identify clinic factors associated with HIVDR emergence and provide evidence to support national program and clinic-level adjustments, if necessary. World Health Organization-recommended HIVDR EWIs were monitored in Zimbabwe using routinely available data at selected ART clinics between 2007 and 2009. As Zimbabwe's national ART coverage increases, improved ART information systems are required to strengthen routine national ART monitoring and evaluation and facilitate scale-up of HIVDR EWI monitoring. Attention should be paid to minimizing loss to follow-up, supporting adherence, and ensuring clinic-level drug supply continuity.

HIV-2-specific cytotoxic T-lymphocyte activity is inversely related to proviral load.

OBJECTIVES: To characterize HIV-specific cytotoxic T-lymphocyte (CTL) activities in HIV-2-infected individuals and to relate these to HIV-2 proviral load. METHODS: Peripheral blood mononuclear cells were collected from 16 HIV-2-seropositive and four HIV-1/2 dually seropositive subjects. CTL were restimulated with autologous phytohaemagglutinin-stimulated blasts and CTL activities in 'bulk' cultures were evaluated 7 and 14 days later by a standard 51Cr-release assay using autologous B-cell lines infected with recombinant vaccinia expressing HIV-2 Gag, Pol or Nef protein. Proviral load was quantified by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) which used HIV-2 long terminal repeat primers and an external standard control made by an HIV-2CBL-22 chronically infected C8166 cell line. A biotinylated primer was used to capture the 35S dATP-incorporated secondary PCR product in a quantitative radiometric assay. RESULTS: After 14 days of culture CTL responses against Gag or Pol protein were seen in 18 (90.0%) and 14 (70.0%) out of 20 subjects, respectively, whereas a CTL response was noted against Nef protein in five (25.0%) out of 20 subjects. In 14 (70.0%) out of 20 subjects multiple HIV proteins were simultaneously recognized. The sum of specific lysis (%) against HIV-2 Gag, Pol and Nef at 30:1 effector-to-target ratio, or specific lysis of the dominant CTL response, correlated strongly with HIV-2 proviral load expressed as copies per 10(5) CD4+ cells (r = -0.625, P = 0.003 and r = -0.674, P = 0.001, respectively). CONCLUSION: HIV-2-specific CTL to multiple gene products was demonstrated in most HIV-2-infected individuals. An inverse correlation between the level of CTL activity and proviral load was found, which supports the hypothesis that CTL are important in the control of HIV-2 replication.

Development of a one-tube multiplex reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction assay for the simultaneous amplification of HIV type 1 group M gag and env heteroduplex mobility assay fragments.

The emergence of intersubtype recombinant HIV-1 isolates has made it imperative to analyze different regions of HIV-1 genomes. For this purpose a one-tube multiplex RT-PCR, coamplifying first-round amplicons that allow amplification of gag and env heteroduplex mobility assay (HMA) fragments from different HIV-1 group M isolates, was developed, starting with plasma samples. The multiplex RT-PCR assay is sensitive: 115 of 136 (84.5%) samples were positive for both gag and env, positive amplification of the gag fragment was observed in 130 of 136 (95.6%) samples, while for the env fragment 119 of 136 (87.5%) tested positive. The multiplex RT-PCR in combination with gag and env HMA makes large-scale HIV-1 subtyping fast, simple, and more economical.

Study of HIV type 1 gag/env variability in The Gambia, using a multiplex DNA polymerase chain reaction.

A multiplex DNA PCR assay was developed for the simultaneous first-round amplification of HIV-1 gag and env fragments for the heteroduplex mobility assay (HMA). This assay was compared with the conventional amplification assay, using DNA extracted from PBMC samples from 30 HIV-1-seropositive individuals from The Gambia, who were enrolled between 1992 and 1997. From 27 of 30 (90%) samples both gag and env HMA fragments were amplified simultaneously. In one sample only the gag HMA fragment could be amplified by multiplex DNA PCR, and in two samples amplification was negative for both gag and env HMA in multiplex as well as the mono-DNA PCR. Of the 28 Gambian isolates subtyped by gag/env HMA or by sequencing and phylogenetic analysis, the majority (19 of 28; 68%) were intersubtype recombinant. Fifteen of 28 (53%) samples were circulating recombinant form (CRF) CRF02.AG variants. Two isolates clustering with the previously documented Gambian isolate GM4 (previously described as an env GC recombinant) are classified as gag A/env J recombinants.

Cytotoxic T cells from human immunodeficiency virus type 2-infected patients frequently cross-react with different human immunodeficiency virus type 1 clades.

Knowledge of immune mechanisms responsible for the cross-protection between highly divergent viruses such as human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) and HIV-2 may contribute to an understanding of whether virus variability may be overcome in the design of vaccine candidates which are broadly protective across the HIV subtypes. We demonstrate that despite the significant difference in virus amino acid sequence, the majority of HIV-2-infected individuals with different HLA molecules possess a dominant cytotoxic T-cell response which is able to recognize HIV-1 Gag protein. Furthermore, HLA-B5801-positive subjects show broad cross-recognition of HIV-1 subtypes since they mounted a T-cell response that tolerated extensive amino acid substitutions within HLA-B5801-restricted HIV-1 and HIV-2 epitopes. These results suggests that HLA-B5801-positive HIV-2-infected individuals have an enhanced ability to react with HIV-1 that could play a role in cross-protection.

Kaposi's sarcoma in the Gambia, West Africa is less frequent in human immunodeficiency virus type 2 than in human immunodeficiency virus type 1 infection despite a high prevalence of human herpesvirus 8.

OBJECTIVES: To investigate the distribution of Kaposi's sarcoma (KS) cases in patients with human immunodeficiency virus types 1 and 2 (HIV-1 and HIV-2) infection in the Gambia; to document the prevalence of human herpesvirus 8 (HHV-8) infection in various population groups in the Gambia. STUDY DESIGN/METHODS: A retrospective analysis of KS cases in hospital records at the Medical Research Council (MRC) hospital was performed, along with a cross-sectional survey of HHV-8 prevalence in hospital-based and community-based study population with polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and serologic assays. RESULTS: After adjusting for gender and CD% at the first visit, HIV-1-positive patients were 12.4 times more likely to have KS than were HIV-2-positive patients. The prevalence of antibodies to HHV-8 and the HHV-8 genome was high in both HIV-1-positive and HIV-2-positive patients without KS. The prevalence of antibodies was also high in pregnant women who were HIV-1-positive, HIV-2-positive, or HIV-negative (73%, 83%, and 79%, respectively). CONCLUSIONS: HHV-8 infection is widespread in the Gambia. In addition to immunosuppression and HHV-8 infection, other cofactors specifically related to HIV-1 rather than HIV-2 appear to be involved in the development of KS.