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Longitudinal analysis of human immunodeficiency virus type 1 nef/long terminal repeat sequences in a cohort of long-term survivors infected from a single source.

Churchill MJ, Rhodes DI, Learmont JC, Sullivan JS, Wesselingh SL, Cooke IR, Deacon NJ, Gorry PR

Macfarlane Burnet Institute for Medical Research and Public Health, GPO Box 2284, Melbourne 3001, Victoria, Australia.

We studied the evolution of human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) in a cohort of long-term survivors infected with an attenuated strain of HIV-1 acquired from a single source. Although the cohort members experienced differing clinical courses, we demonstrate similar evolution of HIV-1 nef/long-terminal repeat (LTR) sequences, characterized by progressive sequence deletions tending toward a minimal nef/LTR structure that retains only sequence elements required for viral replication. The in vivo pathogenicity of attenuated HIV-1 is therefore dictated by viral and/or host factors other than those that impose a unidirectional selection pressure on the nef/LTR region of the HIV-1 genome.

Published 27 December 2005 in J Virol, 80(2): 1047-52.
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