Identification of a new HIV-1 BC circulating recombinant form (CRF60_BC) in Italian young men having sex with men

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• 作者：Francesco Roberto Simonetti^a ; Alessia Lai^a ; ^{alessia.lai@unimi.it" class="auth_mail} ; Laura Monno^b ; Francesca Binda^a ; Gaetano Brindicci^b ; Grazia Punzi^b ; Giorgio Bozzi^a ; Michela Violin^a ; Massimo Galli^a ; Maurizio Zazzi^c ; Gioacchino Angarano^b ; Claudia Balotta^a
• 关键词：CRF60_BC ; Italian young MSM ; Recombination analysis
• 刊名：Infection, Genetics and Evolution
• 出版年：April, 2014
• 年：2014
• 卷：23
• 期：Complete
• 页码：176-181
• 全文大小：1254 K

文摘

HIV-1 recombination, reverse transcriptase (RT) low fidelity and high replication rate are the drivers of variability and evolution on the global scale. Only few of these HIV-1 chimeric forms have been characterized in Europe, despite 20% of infections are due to unique or circulating recombinant forms worldwide. An outbreak of BC recombinants has been recently described in a southern region of Italy, Apulia, in men having sex with men (MSM) seeking sexual partners on-line.

We analyzed the full length genome of HIV-1 BC recombinants harbored by three recently infected subjects, two MSM and a heterosexual woman, with no evidence of epidemiological link. The recombination analysis showed a unique recombination pattern of a subtype C genome with 3 subtype B fragments corresponding to HXB2 positions: [1-463] in the 5鈥睱TR , [2804-3037] in RT and [8662-9548] corresponding to the C-terminal segment of gp41, nef and most of 3鈥睱TR.

Phylogenetic analysis revealed the South American origin of the C subtype parental strain. A research conducted in an Italian nationwide database provided six additional similar sequences from other Italian regions with identical recombination pattern in pol gene; a further BLAST search retrieved one full length genome isolated in France with the same mosaic pattern, except an additional B subtype short fragment in the integrase region. These recombinant isolates, designated CRF60_BC, led to the identification of the first Italian circulating recombinant form, which gave rise to an epidemic burst mainly involving MSM.