[Men who have sex with men and its relationship with HIV-1 strains prevailing in the paid blood donors from Zhengzhou city, Henan].

OBJECTIVE

To clarify the genetic characteristics of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) circulated in the population of men who have sex with men (MSM) in Zhengzhou, Henan and to analyze its relationship with HIV-1 prevailing in the paid blood donors (PBDs).

METHODS

Thirty-one MSM who were confirmed as HIV positive individuals in 2010 together with 41 HIV-positive former PBDs were enrolled in the study. Information on related epidemiological characteristics and their plasma were collected. RT-PCR was used to amplify HIV-1 full length gag (1584 bp), pol (3147 bp) genes and partial env gene (C2V3 segment, 558 bp) followed by sequencing on those subjects. Online software available at LosAlamos HIV Database was used to identify the HIV subtypes based on the findings of the sequences. Phylogenetic tree was used to identify the possible relationship of transmission.

RESULTS

Fifty-three full length gag, 38 full length pol and 48 partial env (C2V3) genes were collected from 72 participants. Among the 31 HIV(+) MSM individuals, 14 CRF01_AE strains, 5 CRF07_BC strains and 12 subtype B (1 subtype B and 11 B') strains were identified respectively. All of the 41 strains identified from former PBDs were infected by B' strains. The CRF01_AE strains identified in MSM showed a close relationship to those identified from both Hebei and Liaoning provinces. The CRF07_BC strains showed a close relationship with those from Shijiazhuang and Beijing cities. Among the 12 subtype B strains, 8 sequences grouped into 1 cluster with 1 sequence from the former PBDs. Two sequences grouped with 02HNseq4 suggested that B' had been prevailed in the MSM population might come from the former PBDs and were closely related to the strains identified in the MSM population.

CONCLUSION

Complicated genetic background and multiple introductions of HIV in the MS population in Zhengzhou, were found. This was also the first report which noticed that the subtype B epidemic among Zhengzhou MSM was mainly originated from the B' among the former PBDs.