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. 2018;16(5):345-353.
doi: 10.2174/1570162X17666190130120757.

Near Full-length Genomic Sequencing and Molecular Analysis of HIV-Infected Individuals in a Network-based Intervention (TRIP) in Athens, Greece: Evidence that Transmissions Occur More Frequently from those with High HIV-RNA

Evangelia-Georgia Kostaki  1 , Daniel Frampton  2 , Dimitrios Paraskevis  1 , Katerina Pantavou  3 , Bridget Ferns  4 , Jade Raffle  2 , Paul Grant  5 , Zisis Kozlakidis  6 , Andria Hadjikou  3   7 , Eirini Pavlitina  8 , Leslie D Williams  9 , Angelos Hatzakis  1 , Samuel R Friedman  9 , Eleni Nastouli  4   10 , Georgios K Nikolopoulos  3
Affiliations

Near Full-length Genomic Sequencing and Molecular Analysis of HIV-Infected Individuals in a Network-based Intervention (TRIP) in Athens, Greece: Evidence that Transmissions Occur More Frequently from those with High HIV-RNA

Evangelia-Georgia Kostaki et al. Curr HIV Res. 2018.

Abstract

Background: TRIP (Transmission Reduction Intervention Project) was a network-based, contact tracing approach to locate and link to care, mostly people who inject drugs (PWID) with recent HIV infection.

Objective: We investigated whether sequences from HIV-infected participants with high viral load cluster together more frequently than what is expected by chance.

Methods: Paired end reads were generated for 104 samples using Illumina MiSeq next-generation sequencing.

Results: 63 sequences belonged to previously identified local transmission networks of PWID (LTNs) of an HIV outbreak in Athens, Greece. For two HIV-RNA cut-offs (105 and 106 IU/mL), HIV transmissions were more likely between PWID with similar levels of HIV-RNA (p<0.001). 10 of the 14 sequences (71.4%) from PWID with HIV-RNA >106 IU/mL were clustered in 5 pairs. For 4 of these clusters (80%), there was in each one of them at least one sequence from a recently HIVinfected PWID.

Conclusion: We showed that transmissions are more likely among PWID with high viremia.

Keywords: HIV; HIV transmission; HIV-RNA; PWID; TRIP; recent infection..

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Figures

Fig. (1)
Fig. (1)
Maximum likelihood phylogenetic trees of near full-length genomic sequencing found in local transmission networks (LTNs) of people who inject drugs (PWID) shown with branch lengths and without branch lengths. (A) PWID with HIV-RNA > 105 IU/mL are highlighted in black. (B) PWID with HIV-RNA > 106 IU/mL are highlighted in black. (C) PWID with HIV-RNA > 106 IU/mL are highlighted in black and PWID with HIV-RNA > 106 IU/mL and documented recent infection (< 6 months) are indicated by white circles with black outlines. Highly supported nodes (SH-support > 0.9 or bootstrap support > 75%) including viral sequences from PWID with HIV-RNA > 106 IU/mL are indicated by an asterisk.
Fig. (2)
Fig. (2)
Total number of character changes (transmissions between different levels of HIV-RNA) estimated between original bootstrap trees (black) and after a reshuffling at the tips (grey) (A) using a cut-off of 105 IU/mL and (B) using a cut-off of 106 IU/mL.
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