%0 Journal Article
%T Evidence That HIV-1 CRF01_AE Is Associated with Low CD4+T Cell Count and CXCR4 Co-Receptor Usage in Recently Infected Young Men Who Have Sex with Men (MSM) in Shanghai, China
%A Xiaoshan Li
%A Yile Xue
%A Leiming Zhou
%A Yi Lin
%A Xiaolei Yu
%A Xuqin Wang
%A Xiaohong Zhen
%A Wei Zhang
%A Zhen Ning
%A Qing Yue
%A Jie Fu
%A Fangwei Shen
%A Jing Gai
%A Yuqing Xu
%A Jiawen Mao
%A Xianming Gao
%A Xiaopei Shen
%A Laiyi Kang
%A Guido Vanham
%A Hua Cheng
%A Ying Wang
%A Minghua Zhuang
%A Xun Zhuang
%A Qichao Pan
%A Ping Zhong
%J PLOS ONE
%D 2014
%I Public Library of Science (PLoS)
%R 10.1371/journal.pone.0089462
%X Men who have sex with men (MSM) have recently accounted for an alarmingly increasing proportion of HIV-1 transmission in China. In order to investigate the immune status as a result of CRF01_AE infection and CXCR4 co-receptor usage in a young Shanghai-based HIV-1-infected MSM population in Shanghai, 364 HIV-1-infected MSM with average age of 22.7 years old, newly diagnosed between Jan 2009 and Jul 2013 were analyzed for CD4+T cell count, subtyping using phylogenetic analysis, and viral co-receptor tropism using Geno2pheno and webPSSM in combination. A total of 276 individuals were identified as recently infected. Subtype assignment were as follows: 176 (63.8%) CRF01_AE, 77 (27.9%) CRF07_BC, and 23 (8.3%) subtype B. Besides, 24 second-generation recombinant strains were identified. A lower CD4+T cell count at baseline survey was observed among CRF01_AE strain-infected individuals, compared to those who were infected with CRF07_BC (P<0.01). The frequency of baseline CD4+T cell count <200 was higher and the frequency of CD4 T counts >500 lower in CRF01_AE infection than CRF07_BC infection. It is worth noting that 32.4%¨C40.9% of CRF01_AE strain-infected individuals were predicted to carry CXCR4-tropic viruses whereas none of CRF07_BC and subtype B were found to be as CXCR4-tropic viruses (P<0.001). As could be expected CXCR4 tropism was associated with lower CD4 T counts. This study revealed that CRF01_AE strains with high frequency of CXCR4 tropism are prevailing in the young MSM population in China and could potentially cause a severe loss of CD4+T cell count and rapid disease progression. A regular surveillance of HIV-1 subtypes, CD4+T cell count and viral co-receptor usage would be greatly beneficial for effectively monitoring disease progression, improvement of antiretroviral therapy strategy and prompt intervention of transmission.
%U http://www.plosone.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0089462