CELL-TYPE-SPECIFIC HETEROGENEITY OF THE HIV-1 V3 LOOP IN INFECTED INDIVIDUALS - SELECTION OF VIRUS IN MACROPHAGES AND PLASMA

The primary targets for infection of HIV-1 are CD4(+) T cells and monocyte/macrophage cells. We investigated the genotype heterogeneity of HIV-1 in distinct blood compartments, CD4(+) T cells, monocytes, and plasma. Nucleotide sequences of proviral DNA from CD4(+) T cells, monocyte cells, and cell-free virion RNA from plasma were determined in three HIV-1 infected individuals. We found that the heterogeneity in proviral DNA from CD4(+) T cells was much higher than that found in monocyte cells or in virion RNA from plasma. These data showed that different swarms of HIV-1 exist in individually infected cells and plasma. Furthermore, predicted vs amino acid sequences in the infected monocytes were very similar to the reported sequence of prototypic macrophage-tropic HIV-1 isolates. Our results show that macrophage-tropic virus is quite homogenous in monocytes/macrophages and has a common vs structure in contrast to T-cell-tropic virus in vivo. (C) 1994 Academic Press, Inc.