Molecular epidemiology of mother-to-child transmission of HIV-1 in children at Tygerberg Hospital

[摘要] One of the major routes of transmission of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) in thedeveloping world is vertical transmission from mother to infant – pre-, intra-, or post-partum.In the Western Cape, HIV-1 subtype C is the predominant subtype in the heterosexualpopulation, and this trend was expected to be seen amongst cases of mother-to-childtransmission of HIV. The aim of this study was to perform genetic characterisation andphylogenetic analysis of the HIV-1 genome in positive serum/plasma samples obtained fromchildren (age 0 to 18 months) from 2000-2002, and temporally related specimens from theirmothers. We obtained 27 suitable pairs of samples taken within 6 months of delivery. Fromthis pool, we obtained 21 infant DNA sequences and 17 maternal sequences, resulting in 16mother-infant pairs. All patient sequences were identified as HIV-1 subtype C, and, asexpected, mother and infant viral sequences clustered together. In some cases where a motherwas suspected to have two dominant quasispecies based on the electropherogram, only onesequence was detectable in the infant. Single or multiple amino acid deletions wereconsistent between mothers and infants, and some pairs showed the same amino aciddeletions seen in other pairs.

[发布机构] Stellenbosch University