Department of HIV/AIDS & STD Control and Prevention, Zhejiang Provincial Center for Disease Control and Prevention, No. 3399, Binsheng Road, Hangzhou, 310051, Zhejiang, China.
Department of Technology R&D, Ningbo Institute of Life and Health Industry, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Ningbo, 315000, Zhejiang, China.
Virol J. 2021 May 31;18(1):106. doi: 10.1186/s12985-021-01573-5.
In China, an HIV-infected man (complainant; P2) alleged that another man (defendant; P1) had unlawfully infected him with HIV through unprotected homosexual contact in 2018.
We employed epidemiological, serological and phylogenetic analyses to investigate the transmission linkage between two men who have sex with men (MSM). Partial segments of three HIV-1 gene regions (gag, pol, and env) were amplified and sequenced by cloning. Maximum-likelihood (ML) and Bayesian methods were used to determine the direction and estimate the timing of transmission. Local control sequences and database control sequences were also used in the phylogenetic analysis.
It indicated that P2 underwent HIV seroconversion after P1 was diagnosed as HIV positive. The time to the most recent common ancestor (tMRCA) estimates consistently showed that P1 most likely became HIV-1 infected at an earlier date than P2. P1 and P2 were infected with the same HIV-1 CRF01_AE subtype according to segments of all three gene regions (gag, pol, and env). All three genetic regions of P1 have been subject to more potential selective forces than those of P2, indicating a longer evolutionary history. Bayesian and ML trees showed similar paraphyletic-monophyletic topologies of gag and env, with the virus from P1 located at the root, which supported a P1-to-P2 transmission direction.
Phylogenetic investigations can elucidate HIV transmission linkage and might empower its use in the opposition of the intentional transmission of HIV-1 as a forensic tool.
在中国，一名 HIV 感染者（投诉人；P2）指控另一名男子（被告人；P1）在 2018 年通过无保护的同性接触非法将 HIV 传染给他。
我们采用流行病学、血清学和系统进化分析方法，调查了两名男男性接触者（MSM）之间的传播关联。通过克隆扩增和测序，获得了三个 HIV-1 基因区域（ gag 、 pol 和 env ）的部分片段。最大似然（ML）和贝叶斯方法用于确定传播方向并估计传播时间。系统进化分析还使用了本地控制序列和数据库控制序列。
结果表明，P2 在 P1 被诊断为 HIV 阳性后发生了 HIV 血清转换。最近共同祖先（tMRCA）的时间估计一致表明，P1 很可能比 P2 更早感染 HIV-1。根据 gag 、 pol 和 env 三个基因区域的片段，P1 和 P2 均感染了相同的 HIV-1 CRF01_AE 亚型。P1 的所有三个基因区域都受到了比 P2 更多的潜在选择压力，这表明其进化历史更长。贝叶斯和 ML 树显示了 gag 和 env 的类似并系单系拓扑结构，P1 的病毒位于根部，这支持了从 P1 到 P2 的传播方向。
系统进化调查可以阐明 HIV 传播关联，并可能使其作为法医工具用于反对故意传播 HIV-1。
