Lack of HIV-1 V3 region sequence diversity in two haemophiliac patients infected with a putative biologic clone of HIV-1.

Peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) from two haemophilia B patients, who presumably became infected with a putative HIV-1 biological clone following treatment with the same suspected batch of commercial factor, were used to clone and sequence the hypervariable V3 region of the HIV-1 envelope protein. In 10 of 12 clones the V3 region was identical and two (one from each patient) had a single non-synonymous point mutation. Viable reisolates (shown to be authentic by sequencing of V3) currently appear to be monocyte tropic. These results strongly indicate that the patients were infected from a common source with a very low number of infectious particles and indicate that variability under these conditions is limited.