PK: Discovery of a new strain of the HIV-1 virus in Cyprus

Scientists from the University of Cyprus and the National HIV Laboratory in Los Alamos, New Mexico, United States of America have discovered a new strain of recombinant human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1), named CRF91_cpx. The genome of the new recombinant strain is a mosaic of four HIV-1 strains: CRF02_AG, G, J and U. The results of this discovery were published today (August 18, 2022) by the prestigious international medical journal Virulence (Taylor & Francis, United Kingdom).

Viruses are tiny infectious particles that can only multiply inside a host cell. They infect the living cells of an organism and take over the host cell's machinery to multiply. Some viruses are known to cause disease in humans, which has led to many infectious disease pandemics over the years. Emerging and re-emerging human viral infectious diseases are an ever-increasing threat to public health with devastating socioeconomic consequences of global proportions. HIV-1 is among these viruses and is known to cause the life-threatening Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome (AIDS) that became a global pandemic in 1981. Unlike most global epidemics, the HIV-1 epidemic /AIDS has persisted for more than 40 years and continues to pose a global health threat to this day.

What is HIV-1

HIV-1 is a retrovirus that attacks the body's immune system leading to AIDS. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), since the beginning of the epidemic, approximately 79,3 million people have been infected with HIV-1 and nearly 36,3 million people have died from AIDS-related diseases. Over the past twenty years, combination antiretroviral drug therapy (cART) has been developed to specifically target HIV-1 with remarkable success, resulting in a dramatic reduction in mortality among people infected with HIV-1. However, the rapid genetic variability of HIV-1 poses the most striking challenge to the effective treatment of HIV-1 infection and the development of a protective vaccine against transmission of the virus.

What applies in Cyprus?

Molecular research carried out at the University of Cyprus in collaboration with the Gregory AIDS Clinic of the Larnaca General Hospital led to the discovery of a new recombinant/chimeric strain of HIV-1, consisting of four different strains: CRF02_AG, G, J and U (U is an unknown subtype , which does not belong to any established subtype). This new recombinant HIV-1 strain was classified as a new Circulating Recombinant Form (CRF) of HIV-1 and named 'CRF91_cpx' by the Los Alamos National Laboratory (USA) HIV Database.

CRF91_cpx was discovered among 14 individuals with HIV-1 living in Cyprus. Currently, epidemiological analyzes indicate that the CRF91_cpx strain is circulating mainly among Cypriot men who have sex with men (MSM) who were infected in Cyprus. After the initial discovery, ongoing phylogenetic analyzes conducted with genomes of HIV-1 strains isolated from newly diagnosed patients in Cyprus in near real time identified two more Cypriot MSM who were infected with the CRF91_cpx strain. The data suggest an ongoing transmission of this new recombinant HIV-1 strain, CRF91_cpx, in Cyprus with currently unknown clinical manifestations.

Which scientists made this important discovery?

The discovery was made by scientists Çiçek Topçu and Vassilis Georgiou of the Laboratory of Molecular Virology of the Department of Biological Sciences of the University of Cyprus led by Academic Professor Leontios Kostrikis and Dr. Brian Thomas Foley of the National HIV Laboratory, Los Alamos, New Mexico, United States of America.

It is worth noting that the discovery is part of the Ph.D. of Ms. Çiçek Topçu and the master's thesis M.Sc. of Mr. Vassilis Georgiou of the Molecular Virology Laboratory of the University of Cyprus. The results of this discovery were published today (August 18, 2022) by the prestigious international medical journal Virulence1.

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