Characterization of near full-length genomes of HIV type 1 strains in Denmark: basis for a universal therapeutic vaccine

AIDS Res Hum Retroviruses. 2007 Nov;23(11):1442-8. doi: 10.1089/aid.2007.0111.

Abstract

We report here the near full-length sequence characterization of 17 Danish clinical HIV-1 strains isolated from HLA-A02 patients not in need of ART, with relatively low viral loads and normal CD4 cell counts. Sequencing was performed directly on DNA extracted from short-term cocultures of PBMCs. The near full-length genomes did not contain any major insertions, deletions, or rearrangements. Sixteen of the isolates were characterized as nonrecombinant subtype B and one isolate as nonrecombinant subtype C. Phylogenetic analysis did not reveal any founder effect among the sequences. Also, we investigated the presence of infrequently targeted subdominant HLA-A02-binding CTL epitopes. The epitopes were conserved in the Danish strains as well as globally in reference sequences of all subtypes. Thus, the selected epitopes were not subtype-specific or region-specific. This lends support for the concept of a universal immunotherapeutic vaccine construct based on these epitopes.

MeSH terms

  • Adult
  • Aged
  • CD4 Lymphocyte Count
  • DNA, Viral / genetics
  • Denmark
  • Genome, Viral*
  • HIV Infections / virology*
  • HIV-1 / classification*
  • HIV-1 / genetics*
  • HIV-1 / isolation & purification
  • HLA-A Antigens / genetics
  • Humans
  • Leukocytes, Mononuclear / virology
  • Male
  • Middle Aged
  • Molecular Sequence Data
  • Phylogeny
  • Sequence Analysis, DNA
  • Sequence Homology
  • Viral Load

Substances

  • DNA, Viral
  • HLA-A Antigens

Associated data

  • GENBANK/EF514697
  • GENBANK/EF514698
  • GENBANK/EF514699
  • GENBANK/EF514700
  • GENBANK/EF514701
  • GENBANK/EF514702
  • GENBANK/EF514703
  • GENBANK/EF514704
  • GENBANK/EF514705
  • GENBANK/EF514706
  • GENBANK/EF514707
  • GENBANK/EF514708
  • GENBANK/EF514709
  • GENBANK/EF514710
  • GENBANK/EF514711
  • GENBANK/EF514712
  • GENBANK/EF514713