Rapid grouping of HIV-1 infection in subtypes A to E by V3 peptide serotyping and its relation to sequence analysis.

We developed a typing assay for HIV-1 using subtype specific peptides corresponding to the five major subtypes of HIV-1 (A to E). In eight patients serologically subtyped as A (n = 1), B (n = 3), C (n = 3) and E (n = 1) phyllogenetic analysis of sequenced V3 domain DNA completely correlated to the peptide serotyping. Out of 106 HIV-1 seropositive samples of a diverse geographical origin 88 (83%) could be subtyped by the peptide assay. Five were of subtype A, 33 of subtype B, 48 of subtype C, one of subtype D, and one was of subtype E. Swedish patients were mainly of HIV-1 subtype B and Ethiopian patients were mainly of subtype C, confirming the performance of the assay. Furthermore, subtype specific antibodies may persist up to nine years in HIV-1 infected patients though sera close to AIDS diagnosis may be difficult to type.