Increased predominance of HIV-1 CRF01_AE and its recombinants in the Philippines.
Abstract
The growth rate of new HIV infections in the Philippines was the fastest of any countries
in the Asia-Pacific region between 2010 and 2016. To date, HIV-1 subtyping results
in the Philippines have been determined by characterizing only partial viral genome
sequences. It is not known whether recombination occurs in the majority of unsequenced
genome regions. Near-full-length genome (NFLG) sequences were obtained by amplifying
two overlapping half genomes from plasma samples collected between 2015 and 2017 from
23 newly diagnosed infected individuals in the Philippines. Phylogenetic analysis
showed that the newly characterized sequences were CRF01_AE (14), subtype B (3), CRF01/B
recombinants (5) and a CRF01/CRF07/B recombinant (1). All 14 CRF01_AE formed a tight
cluster, suggesting that they were derived from a single introduction. The time to
the most recent common ancestor (tMRCA) for CRF01_AE in the Philippines was 1995 (1992-1998),
about 10-15 years later than that of CRF01_AE in China and Thailand. All five CRF01/B
recombinants showed distinct recombination patterns, suggesting ongoing recombination
between the two predominant circulating viruses. The identification of partial CRF07_BC
sequences in one CRF01/CRF07/B recombinant, not reported previously in the Philippines,
indicated that CRF07_BC may have been recently introduced into that country from China,
where CRF07_BC is prevalent. Our results show that the major epidemic strains may
have shifted to an increased predominance of CRF01_AE and its recombinants, and that
other genotypes such as CRF07_BC may have been introduced into the Philippines.
Type
Journal articlePermalink
https://hdl.handle.net/10161/18041Published Version (Please cite this version)
10.1099/jgv.0.001198Publication Info
Chen, Yue; Hora, Bhavna; DeMarco, Todd; Berba, Regina; Register, Heidi; Hood, Sylvia;
... Gao, Feng (2019). Increased predominance of HIV-1 CRF01_AE and its recombinants in the Philippines.
The Journal of general virology. 10.1099/jgv.0.001198. Retrieved from https://hdl.handle.net/10161/18041.This is constructed from limited available data and may be imprecise. To cite this
article, please review & use the official citation provided by the journal.
Collections
More Info
Show full item recordScholars@Duke
Thomas Norton Denny
Professor in Medicine
Thomas N. Denny, MSc, M.Phil, is the Chief Operating Officer of the Duke Human Vaccine
Institute (DHVI), Associate Dean for Duke Research and Discovery @RTP, and a Professor
of Medicine in the Department of Medicine at Duke University Medical Center. He is
also an Affiliate Member of the Duke Global Health Institute. Previously, he served
on the Health Sector Advisory Council of the Duke University Fuquay School of Business.
Prior to joining Duke, he was an Associate Professor of Pathology, Labo
Feng Gao
Professor Emeritus in Medicine
Dr. Feng Gao is Professor of Medicine at Duke University. The Gao laboratory has a
long-standing interest in elucidating the origins and evolution of human and simian
inmmunodeficiency viruses (HIV and SIV), and in studying HIV/SIV gene function and
pathogenic mechanisms from the evolutionary perspective. These studies have led to
new strategies to better understand HIV origins, biology, pathogenesis and drug resistance,
and to design new AIDS vaccines.
Alphabetical list of authors with Scholars@Duke profiles.

Articles written by Duke faculty are made available through the campus open access policy. For more information see: Duke Open Access Policy
Rights for Collection: Scholarly Articles
Works are deposited here by their authors, and represent their research and opinions, not that of Duke University. Some materials and descriptions may include offensive content. More info