Isolates from Four Different HIV Type 1 Clades Circulating in Cuba Identified by DNA Sequence of the C2-V3 Region

Abstract

According to the epidemiology of human immunodeficiency virus infection in Cuba, the main sources of infection have been persons coming from foreign countries, mainly from Africa, and individuals who have had sexual contacts with foreigners in Cuba. However, the first Cuban HIV-1 isolates sequenced have been all classified as subtype B. In this note we report the sequence of the gp120 C2/V3 region from 11 HIV-1 isolates from Cuban patients. DNA was isolated either directly from blood PBMC or from primary isolates, PCR amplified and sequenced. Six isolates were classified as subtype B and three of them had the atypical sequences GRGR, GWGR, and TPGR on the tip of the V3 loop. Besides, two other sequences were classified as subtype A, two as subtype H, and one as subtype C. These results confirm that although subtype B seems to be predominant, HIV-1 isolates from various subtypes do circulate in Cuba.