Molecular epidemiology of HIV-1 in the former Soviet Union: analysis of env V3 sequences and their correlation with epidemiologic data.

ABSTRACT

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the HIV-1 V3 sequence diversity in the former Soviet Union in 30 subjects infected with HIV-1 via different modes of transmission. PATIENTS A cohort of children infected after exposure to nonsterile needles during the epidemic in 1988-1989 in southern Russia (Elista, n = 12 and Rostov-on-Don, n = 10), and eight HIV-seropositive subjects from Belarus (Minsk), infected via sexual (n = 7) and parenteral (n = 1) infection. METHODS: The HIV-1 V3 encoding region was amplified by nested polymerase chain reaction on DNA of primary peripheral blood mononuclear cells collected from the study subjects and then cloned and sequenced. RESULTS: The alignment of 127 V3 sequences from 22 patients in the cohort group demonstrated common consensus sequences in both the Elista and Rostov samples. The average means of interperson variation were 5.9 and 6.6% in Elista and Rostov subjects, respectively, and comparable to the mean intraperson variation. The average mean interperson variation between nucleotide sequences of HIV patients infected through sexual transmission was considerably higher (14.9%). CONCLUSION: V3 sequence analysis confirms the epidemiologic data which support the transmission of HIV-1 in children from a single source, and suggests the infection of a mother from her parenterally infected child. Furthermore, the genetic variability of HIV-1 V3 in the noncohort group was particularly divergent indicating the heterogeneity of the virus circulating in the former Soviet Union.

ABSTRACT

PIP In 1988, an HIV-1 epidemic occurred in Elista, Kalmyk Republic, Russia, among 90 children in two hospitals after exposure to blood contaminated needles from an HIV infected infant. A few months later, a similar HIV-1 outbreak in children occurred in Rostov-on-Don, Russia, probably a result of transporting children from Elista to Rostov-on-Don hospitals. In Rostov-on-Don, it appears that seven HIV infected infants transmitted HIV to their mothers during breast feeding. Health workers collected blood samples from 22 HIV-1 infected subjects in Elista (n = 12) and Rostov-on-Don (n = 10 including 1 mother-child pair) and from 8 control subjects who became infected with HIV-1 via sexual (7) and parenteral (1) transmission from Minsk, Belarus. Researchers wanted to determine the extent of the diversity of proviral DNA encoding the V3 loop from different patients in the children cohort. They used nested polymerase chain reaction on DNA of primary peripheral blood mononuclear cells and then cloned and sequenced them to detail the HIV-1 V3 encoding region. The Elista and Rostov-on-Don samples shared common consensus sequences (127 nucleotide sequences) in the V3 region. The average mean interperson variation between the nucleotide sequences of HIV patients infected through sexual transmission from Minsk was 14.9%, which was much higher than those for Elista and Rostov HIV patients infected through parenteral transmission (5.9% and 6.6%, respectively). The major nucleotide sequence in the mother in the Rostov group, who was presumably infected with HIV by her HIV infected infant during breast feeding, matched that of her daughter. The mother had no history of blood transfusion or any other risk factors except breast feeding. These findings confirm that the Elista and Rostov groups shared a common HIV source. They also suggest that breast feeding was the route of HIV transmission for the mother. The genetic variability of HIV-1 V3 in the control group demonstrated the heterogeneity of HIV-1 in the former USSR.