What is it about?
Previously, we and other groups reported that HIV-1 patients infected with CRF07_BC had significantly lower viral loads than those infected with subtype B. Since HIV-1 viral load is associated with AIDS disease progression, the current study was to link multiple clinical and molecular databases, and compare clinical outcomes of HIV-1 patients infected with CRF07_BC and subtype B in Taiwan. A clinical database containing 1,605 patients including 858 (53.5%) subtype B, 690 (43.0%) CRF07_BC and 57 (3.5%) CRF01_AE patients was established and the clinical outcomes and mortality rate between 2000-2016 of these patients were analyzed.
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Why is it important?
Our study is the largest long-term cohort study and comparison of patients infected with CRF07_BC and subtype B in the same geographic region. Sixteen year survival analysis showed that subtype B patients had significantly lower death rate (8.2%) than CRF07_BC patients (22.8%). The higher death rate for CRF07_BC versus subtype B patients could be largely influenced by transmission route (IDU: 95.7% vs. 3.9%; MSM: 2.0% vs. 85.8%), as well as lower ART uptake rates (69.9% vs. 96.3%). Indeed, subset analysis among IDU patients, CRF07_BC-infected patients had a better 16-year survival rate than patients infected with subtype B (74.3% vs. 45.7%, p < 0.05). Our findings suggest that the transmission route is one major factor influencing death rate, while ART treatment and HIV-1 subtypes may also play important roles.
Perspectives
Our lab is the first group reported that CRF07_BC has entered and caused an explosive outbreak of HIV-1 infection among injection drug users (IDU) in Taiwan between 2004-2006. Viral genomic analysis showed that there is a 7 amino-acid deletion at the p6-Gag protein of CRF07_BC virus which affects its viral maturation and viral load. Since HIV-1 viral load correlates with the AIDS disease progression, we hypothesized that patients infected with CRF07_BC may have a slower disease progression than patients infected with subtype B. This study proves our hypothesis and provides important information for clinical management of AIDS patients.
Arthur Chen
Fujen Catholic University
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: Molecular epidemiology and long-term survival analysis of HIV-1/AIDS patients infected with CRF07_BC, CRF01_AE and subtype B in Taiwan, PLOS One, June 2025, PLOS,
DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0323250.
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