Background: This study explored co-receptor usage and prediction of V3 genotyping algorithms in HIV-1 subtype B' from paid blood donors experienced anti-retroviral therapy in Chinese central province in order to design effectively therapeutic regimen.
Methods: HIV-1 strains were isolated in treatment HIV-1 infections and treatment-naïve HIV-1 infections, then co-receptor usage of HIV-1 strains was identified based on Ghost cell lines using flow cytometry. HIV-1 V3 region was amplified and submitted into web-server (WebPSSM and geno2pheno) to predict HIV-1 co-receptor usage. The feasibility of prediction HIV-1 usage with Web-server assay was analyzed by comparing prediction of V3 genotyping algorithms with HIV phenotype assay based on Ghost cell line.
Results: 45 HIV-1 strains and 114 HIV-1 strains were isolated from HIV-1 infections exposed anti-retroviral therapy and treatment-naïve, respectively. 41% clinical viruses from ART patients and 18% from treatment-naïve patients used CXCR4 as co-receptor. The net charge in the V3 loop was significantly difference in both groups. The sensitivity and specificity for predicting co-receptor capacity is 54.6% and 90.0% on 11/25 rule, 50.0% and 90% on Web-PSSM(x4r5), 68.2% and 40.0% on Geno2pheno[co-receptor].
Conclusion: Dual/mixed/X4 co-receptor utilization was higher in ART patients than treatment-naïve patients. It is should paid attention to predicting HIV-1 co-receptor usage based on V3 genotyping algorithms in HIV-1 subtype B' from paid blood donors experienced anti-retroviral therapy in Chinese central province.