Characterization of HIV type 1 env gene in cerebrospinal fluid and blood of infected Chinese patients

Abstract

HIV infection in the central nervous system (CNS) can progress to AIDS dementia complex; currently, little information on the characterization of the HIV-1 env gene from the CNS is available in infected Chinese patients. In the study, the C2-V5 regions of the HIV envelope gene were cloned and sequenced from both cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) and blood samples of five infected Chinese patients. Sequence analysis revealed that the sequences from Yunan province clustered closely with subtypes CRF07_BC, CRF08_BC, and C, and the sequences from blood showed a significantly higher divergence from those from the CSF. In addition, as predicted by the 11/25 charge rule and geno2pheno program, most of the HIV viral quasispecies from both CSF and blood use CCR5 as coreceptor. These data provide valuable information on a detailed evaluation of the pathogenesis of HIV infection in different tissues of Chinese HIV-infected patients, and our findings would be helpful for the design of vaccines and therapy strategies.