Prevalence of Dual HIV-1 infections in virological failure individuals under HAART

• Grant number: 09/11216-9
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Master
• Start date: August 01, 2010
• End date: February 28, 2011
• Field of knowledge: Health Sciences - Medicine
• Principal Investigator: Luiz Mário Ramos Janini
• Grantee: Edsel Renata de Morais Nunes
• Host Institution: Escola Paulista de Medicina (EPM). Universidade Federal de São Paulo (UNIFESP). Campus São Paulo. São Paulo , SP, Brazil

Abstract

The Human Immunodeficiency Virus, HIV-1, has a large genetic diversity. In Brazil, the largest circulation of subtypes are B, C and F. All this diversity is a direct result of the incorporation of errors during viral replication. The ability to diversify the geneticinformation contained in the genome allows the HIV to adapt to selective pressures imposed by the environment where it is replicating. The immunopathogenesis of the disease itself, in pre and post-treatment by using antiretroviral drugs, is influenced by viral genetic variability. The co-circulation of multiple subtypes and presence of co-infection or superinfection favors the emergence ofrecombinant viruses between different subtypes of HIV-1, which may mean the selection of a viral structure more appropriate. It isbelieved that the immune response to infection by HIV-1 prevents superinfection by a second virus. However recent studies have documented cases of HIV-1 superinfection in humans either from different or the same viral subtype. The purpose of this study is to evaluate the presence of dual infection in patients treated with antiretroviral therapy distributed by the National Program of Sexually Transmitted Diseases (STD-PN) by the Ministry of Health, that may be indicative of such infection. The clarification of this fact may even contribute to the idealization of new therapeutic and vaccine strategies.

Scientific publications

(References retrieved automatically from Web of Science and SciELO through information on FAPESP grants and their corresponding numbers as mentioned in the publications by the authors)

DE MORAIS NUNES, EDSEL RENATA; ZUKUROV, JEAN PAULO; MARICATO, JULIANA TERZI; ARARIPE SUCUPIRA, MARIA CECILIA; DIAZ, RICARDO SOBHIE; RAMOS JANINI, LUIZ MARIO. Analysis of HIV-1 Protease Gene Reveals Frequent Multiple Infections Followed by Recombination among Drug Treated Individuals Living in Sao Paulo and Santos, Brazil. PLoS One, v. 9, n. 1, JAN 3 2014. (09/11216-9, 09/10915-0)