Intrapatient variability of HIV type 1 group O ANT70 during a 10-Year follow-up

HIV-1 ANT70 is the first HIV-1 group O virus isolate obtained from a 25-yea r-old Cameroonian woman, who seroconverted in March 1987, This individual h as remained asymptomatic and clinically healthy (clinical stage WHO 1, CDC II) even though she did not receive any antiretroviral therapy for HIV-1 be fore 97 months postseroconversion, CD4(+) T cell counts declined steadily t o 200/mu l at 70 months postseroconversion. The HIV-1 ANT70 nucleotide and amino acid sequence diversity of the V3C3-encoding env fragment within this individual was followed over a 10-year period. RT-PCR, cloning, sequencing , and genetic analyses were performed on eight plasma follow-up samples. Ex tensive increasing intra- and intersample variation was observed; This is t he first long-term (>10 years) follow-up of the genetic variability of an H IV-1 group O-infected individual. As the course of the disease in the HIV-1 ANT70-infected woman was similar in many aspects to that of group M-infect ed individuals, it remains to be elucidated whether the changes observed in the V3 loop are critical for disease progression.