COMPARTMENTALIZATION OF HIV BETWEEN SEMEN AND BLOOD IN HIV-INFECTED SUBJECTS FR

这个子项目是许多研究子项目中的一个 由NIH/NCRR资助的中心赠款提供的资源。子项目和 研究者（PI）可能从另一个NIH来源获得了主要资金， 因此可以在其他CRISP条目中表示。所列机构为 研究中心，而研究中心不一定是研究者的研究机构。 已经进行了许多研究来表征来自HIV-1亚型B感染受试者的精液中的HIV-1及其在疾病进展中的作用。然而，迄今为止尚未对非B感染受试者精液中HIV-1的特征进行研究，尽管有一些迹象表明，与B亚型感染相比，C亚型感染的血液和精液病毒载量可能更高。精液中HIV-1 C亚型含量较高可能有助于解释该流行病在世界上C亚型最流行的地区迅速传播的原因。印度以C型为主，这为研究精液中HIV-1及其在C亚型感染者发病机制中的作用提供了极好的机会。此外，来自印度的HIV-1在遗传和表型上与美国的HIV-1不同。这提出了一种可能性，即印度C亚型感染受试者体内不同部位的HIV-1病毒动力学与西方国家B亚型感染受试者不同。因此，我们假设精液中病毒载量在疾病发展中的作用以及精液和血液之间HIV-1的区室化在亚型C感染的受试者中与亚型B感染的受试者中不同。我们的总体目标是描述印度HIV感染者精液中HIV-1的特征。具体来说，我们建议比较来自印度的HIV感染者精液和血液中存在的病毒变体。将通过检查HIV-1 RNA gp 120的C2-V5区序列，分别分析精液单核细胞和精液中存在的病毒变体，并与血浆和单核细胞中存在的病毒变体进行比较。通过我们在印度的合作研究收集的精液、血浆和单核细胞样本将用于本项目。

This subproject is one of many research subprojects utilizing the resources provided by a Center grant funded by NIH/NCRR. The subproject and investigator (PI) may have received primary funding from another NIH source, and thus could be represented in other CRISP entries. The institution listed is for the Center, which is not necessarily the institution for the investigator. A number of studies have been done to characterize HIV-1 in semen from HIV-1 subtype B-infected subjects and its role in disease progression. However, no studies have been done to date on the characterization of HIV-1 in semen in non-B-infected subjects, although there are some indications that blood and seminal viral load may be higher in subtype C infection compared to subtype B infections. Higher levels of HIV-1 subtype C in semen may help to explain the rapid spread of the epidemic in areas of the world where subtype C is most prevalent. India with predominant type C provides an excellent opportunity to charcaterize the HIV-1in semen and its role in pathogenesis in subtype C-infected subjects. Furthermore, HIV-1 from India are genetically and phenotypically different than those present in US. This raises the possibility that viral dynamics of HIV-1 in various body compartments in subtype C-infected subjects in India are different than those in subtype B infected subjects in western countries. Therefore we hypothesize that the role of viral load in semen in disease development and compartmentalization of HIV-1 between semen and blood will be different in subtype C-infected subjects than subtype B infected subjects. Our overall objective is to characterize HIV-1 in semen in HIV-infected subjects from India. Specifically, we propose to compare viral variants present in semen and blood from HIV-infected subjects from India. Viral variants present in seminal mononuclear cells and seminal fluids will be separately analyzed and compared with those present in blood plasma and mononuclear cells by examining the sequences of the C2-V5 region of gp120 of HIV-1 RNA. Semen and blood plasma and mononuclear cells samples collected through our collaborative study in India will be used in this project.