Predominance of CRF63_02A1 and multiple patterns of unique recombinant forms of CRF63_A1 among individuals with newly diagnosed HIV-1 infection in Kemerovo Oblast, Russia.

Kemerovo Oblast (KO) has had the highest rate of HIV spread in Russia since 2011. The aim of this work was to study the genetic variation of HIV-1 in Kemerovo Oblast. Blood was sampled from a total of 91 HIV-positive antiretroviral-therapy-naïve individuals in 2013 (38) and 2015 (53). HIV-1 subtypes, pol gene drug resistance mutations, and viral tropism were analyzed. In 2013-2015, the prevalence of HIV-1 subtype A decreased in KO from 60.5 to 7.5 %. The samples collected in 2015 from the patients with newly diagnosed HIV demonstrate the current dominance of HIV-1 CRF63_02A1 (71.7 %) and HIV-1 URF63_A1 (20.8 %), their parental viruses being CRF63_02A1 and subtype A. The initially predominant genetic variant, HIV-1 subtype A, was replaced in KO. An unusually high incidence of HIV-1 unique recombinant forms is probably the result of HIV-1 CRF63_02A1 introduction in the group of injection drug users with the initial HIV-1 subtype A infection and the practice of risky behavior that promotes reinfection. HIV-1 CRF63_02A1, which recently emerged in Siberia, and its recombinant forms have an ever-increasing impact on the current HIV epidemic in Russia, making urgent the need for in-depth study of this HIV-1 genetic variant.

BCG infection in mice is promoted by naïve mesenchymal stromal cells (MSC) and suppressed by poly(A:U)-conditioned MSC.

Mesenchymal stromal cells (MSC) transplantation is an actively studied therapeutic approach used in regenerative medicine and in the field of control of immunoinflammatory response. Conditioning of MSC in culture can form their predominantly pro- or anti-inflammatory phenotypes. We demonstrated that poly(A:U)-conditioning of bone marrow-derived mouse MSC induced predominantly pro-inflammatory phenotype. The effects of administration of naïve MSC (nMSC) or conditioned MSC (cMSC) on the course of mycobacterial infection were studied. BALB/c mice infected i.p. with 5 × 106 M. bovis BCG were successively injected i.v. with 0.75 × 106 of nMSC or cMSC in 11 and 12.5 weeks after infection and sacrificed at the week 14. Histological and bacteriological examination of BCG-infected animals revealed low bacterial loads in liver, lungs and spleen; the bacterial load in spleen was higher than in other organs. Treatment with nMSC induced 3-fold increase of the number of bacteria in spleen granulomas, while cMSC decreased significantly the number of bacteria in BCG-positive granulomas. Analysis of preparations of organ homogenates by luminescent microscopy, MGIT cultures and CFU count on Lowenstein-Jensen medium revealed that nMSC promoted mycobacterial growth whereas cMSC suppressed mycobacterial growth significantly. We concluded that MSC therapy can be effective in mycobacterial infection, but only in a case of appropriate conditioning of the cells.