Distribution of HIV phenotype from HIV infected patients in Srinagarind Hospital

Abstract

This study determined phenotypes of HIV-1 viruses from HIV infected patients having various CD4-count levels in Srinagarind Hospital. The total of 316 HIV-1 infected blood samples were collected from Srinagarind Hospital. All samples were classified into 3 groups. Group A was the samples with CD4 count lower than 200 cells/mm³, group B was CD4 count 201-499 cells/mm³ and group C was CD4 count higher than 500 cells/mm³. Extracted DNA samples were amplified for C2V3 region by nested PCR and then DNA sequencing. HIV phenotypes were obtained by using bioinformatics technique from DNA sequencing data. 42 out of 316 HIV-1 blood samples were obtained the complete data with C2V3 amplification and sequencing. The complete data samples including 21 blood samples from group A which related to SI phenotype 8 samples (38.1 %) and 13 blood samples were NSI phenotype (61.9 %). In group B 12 blood samples were 3 (25 %) and 9 (75 %) blood samples with SI and NSI phenotype, respectively. All 9 blood samples of group C were NSI phenotype. The study showed that more than 50 % of SI viruses from 3 groups had GPGR or GPGH instead of GPGQ at V3 tip position (group A; 62.5 % and group B 66.7 %). It also revealed that SI viruses had positive net charge higher than NSI phenotype. In consideration among each phenotype, SI phenotypes were found in samples with low CD4 count in higher rate than high CD4 count samples. In contrary, NSI phenotypes favorited high CD4 count samples than low CD4 count samples. This study suggests that good understanding of HIV-1 phenotypic spreading must be the valuable tool for efficient anti-retrovirus drugs management.