An Minghui, Han Xiaoxu, Zhao Bin, English Suzanne, Frost Simon D W, Zhang Hongyi, Shang Hong
NHC Key Laboratory of AIDS Immunology (China Medical University), Department of Laboratory Medicine, The First Affiliated Hospital of China Medical University, Shenyang, China.
National Clinical Research Center for Laboratory Medicine, The First Affiliated Hospital of China Medical University, Shenyang, China.
Front Microbiol. 2020 Jan 31;11:61. doi: 10.3389/fmicb.2020.00061. eCollection 2020.
Since the 1990s, several distinct clusters of human immunodeficiency virus-type 1 (HIV-1) CRF01_AE related to a large epidemic in China have been identified, but it is yet poorly understood whether its transmission has dispersed globally. We aimed to characterize and quantify the genetic relationship of HIV-1 CRF01_AEs circulating in China and other countries. Using representative sequences of Chinese clusters as queries, all relevant CRF01_AE pol sequences in two large databases (the Los Alamos HIV sequence database and the UK HIV Drug Resistance Database) were selected with the online basic local alignment search (BLAST) tool. Phylogenetic and phylogeographic analyses were then carried out to characterize possible linkage of CRF01_AE strains between China and the rest of the world. We identified that 269 strains isolated in other parts of the world were associated with five major Chinese CRF01_AE clusters. 80.7% were located within CN.01AE.HST/IDU-2, most of which were born in Southeast Asia. 17.8% were clustered with CN.01AE.MSM-4 and -5. Two distinct sub-clusters associated with Chinese men who have sex with men (MSM) emerged in HK-United Kingdom and Japan after 2000. Our analysis suggests that HIV-1 CRF01_AE strains related to viral transmission in China were initially brought to the United Kingdom or other countries during the 1990s by Asian immigrants or returning international tourists from Southeast Asia, and then after having circulated among MSM in China for several years, these Chinese strains dispersed outside again, possibly through MSM network. This study provided evidence of regional and global dispersal of Chinese CRF01_AE strains. It would also help understand the global landscape of HIV epidemic associated with CRF01_AE transmission and highlight the need for further international collaborative study in this field.
自20世纪90年代以来，已鉴定出几种与中国大规模流行相关的不同的人类免疫缺陷病毒1型（HIV-1）CRF01_AE簇，但对其传播是否已在全球扩散尚知之甚少。我们旨在表征和量化在中国和其他国家流行的HIV-1 CRF01_AE的遗传关系。以中国簇的代表性序列作为查询序列，使用在线基本局部比对搜索（BLAST）工具从两个大型数据库（洛斯阿拉莫斯HIV序列数据库和英国HIV耐药数据库）中选择所有相关的CRF01_AE pol序列。然后进行系统发育和系统地理学分析，以表征中国与世界其他地区CRF01_AE毒株之间可能的联系。我们发现，在世界其他地区分离出的269株毒株与中国五个主要的CRF01_AE簇相关。80.7%位于CN.01AE.HST/IDU-2内，其中大多数起源于东南亚。17.8%与CN.01AE.MSM-4和-5聚类。2000年后，在香港-英国和日本出现了两个与中国男男性行为者（MSM）相关的不同亚簇。我们的分析表明，与中国病毒传播相关的HIV-1 CRF01_AE毒株最初在20世纪90年代由亚洲移民或来自东南亚的回国国际游客带到英国或其他国家，然后在中国的MSM中传播数年之后，这些中国毒株再次向外扩散，可能是通过MSM网络。这项研究提供了中国CRF01_AE毒株区域和全球扩散的证据。它也将有助于了解与CRF01_AE传播相关的HIV流行的全球格局，并突出该领域进一步开展国际合作研究的必要性。
