BACKGROUND The high genetic diversity of HIV-1 has been shown to influence the global distribution, disease progression, treatment success, and the development of an effective vaccine. Despite the low HIV prevalence in Cameroon, all the major HIV subtypes alongside several circulating recombinant forms (CRFs) and unique recombinant forms (URFs) have been reported in Cameroon. To date, HIV-1 diversity in some parts of Cameroon has been largely studied however, information on circulating HIV-1 subtypes in the Northwest region (NWR) of Cameroon is dearth. Therefore the aim of this study was to determine the current circulating HIV-1 subtypes among adults in the NWR of Cameroon. METHODS The genetic analysis of the reverse transcriptase region of the pol gene was performed on 81 samples. The samples were collected from drug naïve patients aged between 18 and 61 years residing within the rural and urban towns in the NWR during the period between February and April 2016. Viral RNA was extracted from plasma, reverse-transcribed, further amplified by nested-PCR before sequencing using an in-house protocol. Generated sequences were then phylogenetically analyzed together with references using MEGA 7. RESULTS Phylogenetic analysis revealed a broad viral diversity including CRF02 _AG (74.1%), F2 (7.4%), D (7.4%), G (3.7%), A1 (1.2%), CRF22_01A1 (2.5%), CRF06_cpx (1.2%), CRF09_cpx (1.2%), CRF11_cpx (1.2%). Three close epidemic clusters were found among F2 (1) and CRF02_AG (2) variants. For the first time we are reporting the CRF22_01A1 subtype in this region. CONCLUSION Our findings update HIV-1 subtypes information in Cameroon and uphold previous studies that CRF02_AG is the most prevalent subtype. This CRF02_AG subtype may have important public health, research, and clinical consequences.

中文翻译：

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喀麦隆西北部地区的人类免疫缺陷病毒1型（（HIV-1））亚型。

背景技术HIV-1的高遗传多样性已显示影响全球分布，疾病进展，治疗成功和有效疫苗的开发。尽管喀麦隆的艾滋病毒流行率很低，但喀麦隆已报告了所有主要的艾滋病毒亚型以及几种循环重组形式（CRF）和独特的重组形式（URF）。迄今为止，已经对喀麦隆某些地区的HIV-1多样性进行了广泛的研究，但是，关于喀麦隆西北地区（NWR）的循环HIV-1亚型的信息却很少。因此，本研究的目的是确定喀麦隆西北地区成年人中目前正在传播的HIV-1亚型。方法对81个样品进行pol基因逆转录酶区域的遗传分析。样本收集自2016年2月至2016年4月期间NWR农村和城市地区的18至61岁的初次使用毒品的患者。从血浆中提取病毒RNA，进行逆转录，并通过巢式PCR进一步扩增在使用内部协议进行测序之前。然后使用MEGA 7对生成的序列和参考进行系统发育分析。结果系统发育分析显示，病毒的多样性很广，包括CRF02_AG（74.1％），F2（7.4％），D（7.4％），G（3.7％），A1（1.2） ％），CRF22_01A1（2.5％），CRF06_cpx（1.2％），CRF09_cpx（1.2％），CRF11_cpx（1.2％）。在F2（1）和CRF02_AG（2）变体中发现了三个紧密的流行群。我们第一次在该区域报告CRF22_01A1亚型。结论我们的发现更新了喀麦隆的HIV-1亚型信息，并支持以前的研究，即CRF02_AG是最普遍的亚型。此CRF02_AG亚型可能具有重要的公共卫生，研究和临床后果。