Distinct Rates and Transmission Patterns of Major HIV-1 Subtypes among Men who Have Sex with Men in Guangxi, China

Xianwu Pang; Bo Xie; Qin He; Xing Xie; Jinghua Huang; Kailing Tang; Ningye Fang; Haoming Xie; Jie Ma; Xianmin Ge; Guanghua Lan; Shujia Liang

doi:10.3389/fmicb.2023.1339240

Distinct Rates and Transmission Patterns of Major HIV-1 Subtypes among Men who Have Sex with Men in Guangxi, China

Front Microbiol. 2024 Jan 12:14:1339240. doi: 10.3389/fmicb.2023.1339240. eCollection 2023.

Authors

Xianwu Pang^#¹, Bo Xie^#², Qin He¹, Xing Xie³, Jinghua Huang¹, Kailing Tang¹, Ningye Fang¹, Haoming Xie¹, Jie Ma¹, Xianmin Ge¹, Guanghua Lan¹, Shujia Liang¹

Affiliations

¹ Guangxi Key Laboratory of Major Infectious Disease Prevention Control and Biosafety Emergency Response, Guangxi Key Laboratory of AIDS Prevention Control and Translation, Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Nanning, Guangxi, China.
² School of Information and Management, Guangxi Medical University, Nanning, Guangxi, China.
³ The First Affiliated Hospital of Guangxi Medical University, Guangxi Medical University, Nanning, Guangxi, China.

^# Contributed equally.

Abstract

The diversity and transmission patterns of major HIV-1 subtypes among MSM population in Guangxi remains unknown. Understanding the characteristics is crucial for effective intervention strategies. Between 2016 and 2021, we recruited individuals newly diagnosed with HIV-1 from MSM population in Guangxi. HIV-1 pol region was amplified and sequenced, and constructed molecular network, assessed clustering rate, cluster growth rate, spatial clustering, and calculating the basic reproductive number (R0) based on sequences data. We identified 16 prevalent HIV-1 subtypes among Guangxi MSM, with CRF07_BC (53.1%), CRF01_AE (26.23%), and CRF55_01B (12.96%) predominating. In the network, 618 individuals (66.17%) formed 59 clusters. Factors contributing to clustering included age < 30 years (AOR = 1.35), unmarried status (AOR = 1.67), CRF07_BC subtype (AOR = 3.21), and high viral load (AOR = 1.43). CRF07_BC had a higher likelihood of forming larger clusters and having higher degree than CRF01_AE and CRF55_01B. Notably, CRF07_BC has higher cluster growth rate and higher basic reproductive number than CRF01_AE and CRF55_01B. Our findings underscore CRF07_BC as a prominent driver of HIV-1 spread among Guangxi's MSM population, highlighting the viability of targeted interventions directed at specific subtypes and super clusters to control HIV-1 transmission within this population.

Keywords: HIV-1; MSM; diversity; molecular network; subtype.

Grants and funding

The author(s) declare financial support was received for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article. The study was supported by grants from the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant number: 82160636), the Guangxi Key Laboratory of AIDS Prevention Control and Translation [ZZH2020010], the Guangxi Key Laboratory of Major Infectious Disease Prevention and Control and Biosafety Emergency Response (21-220-12), the Guangxi Bagui Honor Scholarship, and the Guangxi Key Research and Development Program (No: Guike AB22035027, AB19245044).