Genetic drift of parvovirus B19 is found in AIDS patients with persistent B19 infection

• Published in: Journal of medical virology 2006-11, Vol.78 (11), p.1374-1384
• Main Authors: Hung, Chien-Ching, Sheng, Wang-Hwei, Lee, Kuang-Lun, Yang, Shiu-Ju, Chen, Mao-Yuan
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome - complications; AIDS; AIDS-Related Opportunistic Infections - virology; Biological and medical sciences; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; Genetic Drift; HAART; Human viral diseases; Humans; Infectious diseases; Male; Medical sciences; Microbiology; Miscellaneous; Parvoviridae Infections - complications; Parvoviridae Infections - virology; Parvovirus B19; Parvovirus B19, Human - genetics; Parvovirus B19, Human - isolation & purification; quasi-species; Viral diseases; Viral diseases of the lymphoid tissue and the blood. Aids; Viral Load; Virology
• ISSN: 0146-6615; 1096-9071
• DOI: 10.1002/jmv.20708

It is generally thought that parvovirus B19 is stable genetically. Consistently, genetic drift has not been found in patients with persistent B19 infection. In this report, longitudinal genetic changes in NS1 and VP1 gene of B19 isolates from three AIDS patients with persistent B19 infection were studied. One of the three patients was not treated with highly active anti‐retroviral therapy (HAART). B19 viral DNA from these patients was amplified by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and then sequenced directly. A single genetic change was found in the B19 isolate obtained from the patient not treated with HAART on Day 10 after intravenous immunoglobulin (IVIG) treatment. The nucleotide sequences of B19 isolated from this patient, then remained unchanged over a period of 11 months. Analysis of NS1 clones derived from his longitudinal viral isolates showed the existence of quasi‐species but genetic drift was not found. One of the other two patients treated with HAART experienced treatment failure; he was later treated with mega‐HAART. In contrast to the genetic stability of B19 isolates from the patient not treated with HAART, multiple genetic changes were discovered in the viral isolates from the two other patients after HAART and mega‐HAART, respectively. Through analysis of B19 clones, the frequency of clones containing these mutations confirmed the genetic drift. Nucleotide substitutions seen in VP2 gene of isolates with genetic drift from both patients were all non‐conserved, suggesting that they are positively selected. J. Med. Virol. 78:1374–1384, 2006. © 2006 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.