Molecular cloning and in vitro evaluation of an infectious simian-human immunode .ciency virus containing env of a primary Chinese HIV-1 subtype C isolate

Wu YY, Hong KX, Chenine A-L, Whitney JB, Chen QM, Geng YQ, Ruprecht RM, Shao Y

Abstract: Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) clade C is the most prevalent subtype and accounts for accounts for approximately 50% of all HIV infections worldwide. In China, the prevalent HIV strains are B’/C subtypes, in which the envelope belongs to subtype C. To evaluate potential AIDS vaccines targeting Chinese viral strains in non-human primate models, we constructed an infectious simian-human immunodeficiency virus(SHIV) that expresses most of the envelope of a primary HIV strain, which was isolated from a HIV-positive intravenous drug user from XinJiang province in China. The resulting chimeric SHIV-XJ02170 was infectious in human, rhesus monkey and cynomolgus monkey peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) and used CCR5 exclusively as coreceptor.

Key words: Chinese HIV-1-R5 simian-human immunodeficiency virus-subtype C