CRF35-AD as the Main Circulating Genotype of Human Immunodeficiency Virus Type 1 Infection in Iran: A Phylogenetic and Demographic-Based Study

Abstract

Finding the predominant circulating subtype of human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) and surveying co-infection with other infectious viruses are crucial to making preventive decisions. To this end, 50 Iranian HIV-positive patients made up of 37 men and 13 women were selected. Most of the HIV-positive patients (70%) were intravenous drug users (IDUs), and 48 and 32% of patients were co-infected with HCV and HBV, respectively. The rate of simultaneous infection with HIV, HCV, and HBV was found to be 6%. The p17 region of the gag and the c2-v5 region of the env genes were sequenced and then clustered by phylogenetic analyses. CRF35-AD was specified as the predominant circulating subtype among different high-risk groups. In our survey, most of the patients in the IDU group had co-infections with HCV and HBV. Some possible reasons for the increased transmission risk of HIV in IDUs could be low levels of education, poor hygiene and housing conditions, and limited access to health services.

Immunovirological Assessment of HIV-Infected Patients and Phylogenetic Analysis of the Virus in Northeast of Iran

“…They suggested African origins, Uganda and Kenya, for the HIV circulating in this large region. However, the phylogenetic relationship findings in the present study showed radical changes to the CRF35-AD, which is the predominant subtypes in other parts of Iran (22).…”

“…The reference sequences were ob-tained from the Gene bank (www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov) and HIV database (www.hiv.lanl.gov). The phylogenetic tree was constructed by MEGA software (version X) with the maximum-likelihood method and GTR substitution model with 1000 bootstrap values (Figure 1) (GeneBank accession: MK968931-41) (22). The data were analyzed using SPSS software (version 13.0; SPSS Inc, Chicago).…”

Nanotechnology based strategies for HIV-1 and HTLV-1 retroviruses gene detection

“…Despite the joint transmission routes between HIV-1 and HTLV-1, they lead to remarkable different diseases. The infection by HIV-1 results in the acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) associated with CD 4 þ T cell depletion which results in many mortal diseases [7,8]. HTLV-1 causes two main diseases including Adult T-cell leukaemia/lymphoma (ATLL) and HTLV-1 Associated Myelopathy/Tropical Spastic Paraparesis (HAM/TSP) and also some other disorders [9,10,11].…”