MOLECULAR EPIDEMIOLOGY OF HIV-1 IN THE FORMER SOVIET-UNION - ANALYSIS OF ENV V3 SEQUENCES AND THEIR CORRELATION WITH EPIDEMIOLOGIC DATA

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.