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Title
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The predominance of Human Immunodeficiency Virus type I (HIV-I) circulating recombinant form 02 (CRF02_AG) in West Central Africa may be related to its replicative fitness
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Author
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Abstract
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| Background: CRF02_AG is the predominant HIV strain circulating in West and West Central Africa. The aim of this study was to test whether this predominance is associated with a higher in vitro replicative fitness relative to parental subtype A and G viruses. Primary HIV-1 isolates (10 CRF02_AG, 5 subtype A and 5 subtype G) were obtained from a well-described Cameroonian cohort. Growth competition experiments were carried out at equal multiplicity of infection in activated T cells and monocyte-derived dendritic cells (MO-DC) in parallel. Results: Dual infection/competition experiments in activated T cells clearly indicated that CRF02_AG isolates had a significant replication advantage over the subtype A and subtype G viruses. The higher fitness of CRF02_AG was evident for isolates from patients with CD4+T cell counts > 200 cells/mu L (non-AIDS) or CD4+T cell counts < 200 cells/mu L ( AIDS), and was independent of the co-receptor tropism. In MO-DC cultures, CRF02_AG isolates showed a slightly but not significantly higher replication advantage compared to subtype A or G isolates. Conclusion: We observed a higher ex vivo replicative fitness of CRF02_AG isolates compared to subtype A and G viruses from the same geographic region and showed that this was independent of the co-receptor tropism and irrespective of high or low CD4+T cell count. This advantage in replicative fitness may contribute to the dominant spread of CRF02_AG over A and G subtypes in West and West Central Africa. |
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Language
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English
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Source (journal)
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Retrovirology. - London
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Publication
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London
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2006
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ISSN
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1742-4690
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Volume/pages
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3
(2006)
, p. 1-11
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Article Reference
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40
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ISI
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000239812100002
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Medium
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E-only publicatie
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Full text (Publisher's DOI)
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Full text (open access)
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