HIV-1 genetic variants in the Russian Far East

A molecular analysis of HIV-1 subtypes and recombinants circulating in cities in the Russian Far East was performed. The study included samples from 201 outpatients from Vladivostok, Khabarovsk, and Blagoveshchensk. In most parts of Russia, patients are infected with HIV-1 subtype A, known as the IDU-A variant. Subtype B, including the IDU-B variant, is rare in Russia but widespread in the Ukraine, and the CRF02_AG is prevalent in Central Asian countries and Siberia, Russia. One of the challenges of this study in the Far East was to determine whether the molecular landscape of HIV infection in this region is influenced by the bordering countries, including China and Japan, where a distinct set of HIV subtypes is circulating, such as B', C, and CRF01_AE. The distribution of HIV-1 genetic variants in the cities studied was as follows: subtype A (IDU-A), 55.7%; subtype B, 25.3% (IDU-B variant-24.3%); subtype C, 10.0%; CRF02_AG, 1.5%; and CRF63_02A1, 7.5%. A phylogenetic analysis confirmed the relationship of subtype A viruses with the IDU-A variant predominating in Ukraine, Russia and other former Soviet Union (FSU) countries, of subtype B viruses with IDU-B in the Ukraine and of CRF02_AG variants with variants in Uzbekistan, Russia, and other former USSR countries. Subtype C sequences were not uniform, and most clustered between each other and HIV-1 sequences originating from Africa; there was only one sample possibly related to Chinese variants. Thus, despite close cultural and commercial relationships among Russia, China, and Japan, the distribution of HIV-1 subtypes in the Russian Far East is still primarily influenced by contacts with the countries of the former USSR.