Caracterização genética do vírus da Imunodeficiência Humana-1 circulante no Rio Grande do Norte

Abstract

Since the earliest reports of AIDS in the 1980s to the present, the HIV was responsible for approximately 35 million deaths, considered one of the worst pandemics ever recorded in the human. HIV is an RNA virus belonging to the family Retroviridae, subfamily Orthoretrovirinae of the genus Lentivirus. Although there are two species of HIV, only HIV-1 has a pandemic distribution. Phylogenetically the virus is divided into several groups, subtypes, sub-types, CRF's and URF's. With the advent of highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART) HIV infection is considered chronic, the well treated individual is not developing AIDS, resulting in an improvement in the quality of life, increased survival and the possibility of non-transmissibility. However, increasing resistance to antiretroviral drugs, mainly due to poor adherence to treatment, could jeopardize the global progress made so far in combating HIV. The objective of this study was to perform the genetic characterization of circulating HIV-1 strains in the State of Rio Grande do Norte from samples from January to October 2018. A total of 170 samples from the four health regions of Rio Grande do Norte were selected, meeting the established inclusion criteria, and in 8 samples it was possible to perform all the methodological steps of the research. The phylogeny by means of sequencing of the protease and reverse transcriptase region of the Pol gene showed predominance of circulating HIV-1-B with one patient presenting subtype F1 and one presenting subtype C. The analysis of the genetic sequencing of the viruses indicated the presence of several mutations of resistance, both transmitted and acquired, as well as accessory mutations, only mutations of clinical importance were not detected in 4 samples, the most recurrent mutations were modeled and identified in reverse transcriptase in regions of α-helix, β-sheet and region of shoulder strap. In conclusion, this study revealed a predominance of circulating HIV-1 subtype B and the mutation profile revealed that the most impaired antiretrovirals were reverse transcriptase inhibitors. The information is fundamental for adequate redirection of therapeutic rescue of these patients and molecular epidemiological screening of circulating strains.