Isolation and analyzes of HIV・HTLV related viruses from humans and monkeys in Africa

HIV和HTLV，分别是艾滋病和成人t细胞白血病的人类逆转录病毒，以及它们的类人猿对应病毒组成灵长类逆转录病毒组。本研究的目的是通过对各病毒的分子流行病学调查以及对其起源、进化和传播的分析来阐明该病毒群的整体结构。我们一直把研究重点放在非洲中部地区，那里是许多病毒的发源地。1996年至1998年，我们在喀麦隆和刚果进行了血清调查，随后对阳性标本进行了系统发育分析。结果表明：1)中非地区HIV-1有多种亚型(a ~ J) + O型，以a型为主，混合感染的频率很高（10%）。2)刚果地区HIV-1亚型G和H的患病率分别为21%（28份标本中有6份），仅次于A亚型（11/28,39%）。3)对此前分别从加纳和刚果分离的两个亚型g分离株的中心基因组区进行了测序，发现两种病毒均为A/G重组病毒，尽管它们之间的基因组嵌合性不同，这表明病毒在时间和地点上至少有两次出现的可能性。4)喀麦隆1例艾滋病患者（女性，25岁）为三联感染病例，病毒基因组由至少4种不同的HIV-1 O组和A、d亚型组成，并与世界其他地区的班图斯和俾格米人分离到htmv -1，并将其序列进行比较。

HIV and HTLV,the causative human retroviruses of AIDS and adult T-cell leukemia respectively, and their simian counterpart viruses comprise the primate retrovirus group. The goal of the present study is to clarify the whole strucure of this viral group by molecular epidemiological surveys of the respective viruses together with analyzes on their origin, evolution and dissemination. We have been directing our reseach attention to the central part of Africa from where numerous viruses heve originated. During 1996 to 1998, we conducted the serosurveys in Cameroon and Congo and subsequently carried out phylogenetic analyzes of the positive specimens. The results obtained were :1) In central Africa, there were a variety of HIV-1 subtypes (A to J) plus group O,the subtype A being the predominant, and the frequency of mixed-infections was very high (10%).2) The prevalences of HIV-1 subtypes G and H in Congo were 21% (6 out of 28 specimens examined) respectively and these values were next to subtype A (11/28,39%).3) The central genomic regions of two subtype Gisolates, one of which was previously isolated from Ghana and another was from Congo, were sequenced and the both virsuses were commonly found to be A/G recombinants though the genomic mosaicism was different between them, suggesting the possibility of at least two incidences of the viral appearance in terms of time and place.4) A Cameroonian AIDS patient (female, 25 y) was found to be a case of triple infection and the viral genomes are comprised of at least 4 different mosaic patterns of HIV-1 group O and subtypes A and D.HTLV-1 was isolated from Bantus and Pygmys and their sequences were compared with those from other areas in the world.