Characteristics of HIV‐1 non‐B subtype infections in Northwest Poland

Abstract

The number of non‐B subtype HIV‐1 infections in Europe has been increasing even though major regional differences have been observed. This trend was investigated in northwestern Poland using sequence and epidemiological data from a cohort of 102 HIV‐1‐infected patients from Szczecin, Poland. HIV‐1 subtypes were defined by phylogenetic analysis of viral reverse transcriptase‐ and protease‐partial coding regions, and results were compared with online subtyping by Standford and REGA tools. Subtype analysis using on‐line subtyping methods produced varying results if compared to phylogenesis, with concordant variant assignment obtained for 98% (100/102) of sequences by Stanford and 85% (87/102) by REGA. In the population studied, non‐B subtype infections comprised 21% of the infections and consisted of subtype D (57%, n = 12), CRF01_AE (19%, n = 4), A and C clades (9.5%, n = 2), and the CRF13_cpx recombinant isolate (4.8%, n = 1). Patients carrying non‐B subtypes were predominantly heterosexuals with high percentage (57%) of women observed in the group. All HIV‐1 non‐B women were Caucasian with majority (83%) of infections acquired in Poland; however, among 12 travelers included in the study a higher proportion of non‐B infections was noted (50%, P = 0.01). Moreover, lower baseline lymphocyte CD4 counts (P = 0.01), higher baseline HIV‐1 viremia (P = 0.08), and a more advanced stage of the disease (P = 0.03) were observed among individuals infected with non‐B subtypes. The data indicated that the proportion of HIV‐1 non‐B subtype infections was higher than previously reported in Poland consisting of a high subtype D prevalence. Furthermore, subtype D transmission occurred primarily between heterosexual Caucasian individuals from this region. J. Med. Virol. 82:1306–1313, 2010. © 2010 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.

Molecular epidemiology of HIV-1 infection in Europe: An overview

“…Up until 1999, only B clade was detected in Polish HIV-1 infected individuals and mainly occurred in MSM (42%) and PWID (35%). Non-B clades (namely A1, C, D and F1) were introduced later and detected more frequently among heterosexuals and females (Parczewski et al, 2012;Parczewski et al, 2010;Parczewski et al, 2016). Similarly in the Czech Republic and Slovakia, non-B strains were found almost exclusively in heterosexuals (Chabadova et al, 2014;Linka et al, 2008;Reinis et al, 2001).…”

HIV-1 Subtype D Infections among Caucasians from Northwestern Poland—Phylogenetic and Clinical Analysis

“…This cluster of heterosexually acquired infections seemed independent from subtype B ones spreading among men who have sex with men (MSM),injection drug users (IDU) and heterosexual populations [27]. Dated phylogeny and phylogeographic analyses suggested that the tMRCA of the subtype D found in Poland is 1989.2 (95% HPD: 1994.46–1968.83) and is of Ugandan origin.…”

“…We have previously identified higher prevalence of non-B subtypes, with a number of subtype D clades in the local population from Northwestern Poland (21%). These variants have been associated with more advanced HIV disease and more common heterosexual transmission route if compared to the subtype B [27].…”

Genotypic tropism of antiretroviral‐treated patients with drug resistant HIV‐1

“…Genotypic susceptibility scores (GSS) were calculated based on mutation scores obtained from this database with modifications described by Anderson et al [2008]. HIV-1 subtypes were characterized using the phylogenetic method using reference sequences from the HIV Sequence Compendium 2009 as described previously [Parczewski et al, 2010].…”