Co-receptor Tropism Determination of HIV-1 Subtype A Spread in the Russian Federation Using V3-based Genotyping Tools

To date, all work related to the study of HIV tropism, was performed on HIV B and C subtypes. In the studied samples, HIV variants of subtype A were virtually absent. However, the existence has been shown previously of some differences in the nucleotide sequences in the V3 loop of env region of subtype A from other subtypes of virus. In the Russian Federation the subtype A of HIV-1 is predominant, and, according to some estimates, accounts for about 89% of all newly diagnosed cases of HIV infection. Thus, it seems interesting and effective to study the characteristics of HIV-1 subtype A, associated with the tropism, in the Russian Federation. The primary objective is determination of the prevalence of R5 (chemokine receptor 5), X4 (chemokine receptor 4), and R5X4-tropic variants of HIV in HIV-infected population in Russia, and analysis of the possible features of tropism of viruses belonging to subtype A.