International Conference on Retroviruses and Novel Drugs June 08-09, 2015 Chicago, Illinois, USA

Integration of retroviral elements into the host genome is a phenomena observed among many classes of retroviruses. Much information concerning integration of retroviral elements has been documented based on in vitro analysis or expression of selectable markers. To identify possible integration events of the LTR retrotransposon, Tf1, within silent regions of the S. pombegenome, we focused on performing an in vivo genome-wide analysis of Tf1 integration events from the nonselective phase of the retrotransposition assay. After analyzing 1000 individual colonies streaked from four independent Tf1 transposed patches under nonselection conditions we detected a population of G418S/neo+ Tf1 integration events that would have been overlooked during the selective phase of the assay. Interestingly, further RNA analysis from the G418S/neo+ cells revealed 50% of clones expressing the neo selectable marker. S. pombecells have in place mechanisms such as DNA methylation, histone modification, and RNA interference (RNAi), to control retroviral activity. There are increasing reports suggesting that RNAi may play a role in silencing virally infected eukaryotic cells. RNAi was also shown to be involved in the inhibition of viruses and silencing of viruses in plants, insects, fungi, and nematodes. We utilized denaturing Polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (PAGE) and Northern Blot hybridization using a DIG-labeled neo probe to detect the presence of microRNAs in G418S/neo+ clones.

The case definition of AIDS encompasses a spectrum of infection and malignancies, labeled as opportunistic infections. In recent years, numerous studies have outlined the emergence of opportunistic gastrointestinal protozoa that have caused diarrheal illness among HIV/AIDS patients thus affecting the quality of life in these patients. These infections are the leading cause of morbidity and mortality among these patients especially in third world countries (with Cameroon inclusive) where assess to anti-retroviral is still a major public health problem. The purpose of this study was to determine the prevalence of opportunistic intestinal protozoan as well as correlate the mean parasite density with CD4+ count levels among HIV/ AIDS patients attending the North West Regional Hospital Bamenda, Cameroon. A hospital base cross-sectional study design was conducted were 98 stool samples were collected from HIV/AIDS volunteers. The stool samples were concentrated using the modified Ziehl-Neelsen (Zn) technique for the detection of oocyst of the opportunistic protozoans. Also EDTA blood samples were collected for determination of CD4+ count using a FACS count analyzer. Intestinal protozoans were detected in fourteen (14) of the subjects giving a prevalence of 14.2%. Cryptosporidium parvum (12.2%) was the most predominant parasite identified among the study subjects followed by Cyclosopra cayetanensis (2.2%). Majority of the participants (56%) had a low CD4+ count and recorded the highest prevalence (11.2%) of intestinal protozoans which was statistically significant (p< 0.05). This study also reported negative correlation (r= -0.66) between mean parasite density and CD4+ among HIV/AIDS subjects. This study thus ascertains the existence of intestinal protozoans among HIV/AIDS subjects attending the North West Regional Hospital, Bamenda.

Kavita Kakkar hails from the sacred city of Allahabad and is a PhD scholar. She completed her BSc (Hons) from Allahabad Agricultural Institute Deemed University and MSc from Vellore Institute of Technology. Her keen and enthusiastic approach towards the field of Microbiology has motivated her to attend multiple academic programs, conferences like ASICON etc. and fetched her an award during BIOXPLORE’07. Her five year stint with Sanjay Gandhi Post Graduate institute of Medical Sciences, Lucknow where she currently is working as SRF on an ICMR project on HIV, has further sharpened her aptitude for research and thirst for knowledge. She is currently pursuing PhD on aspect of HIV pathogenesis, and has 2 publications and 6 nucleotide submissions. She strives to maintain a good learning curve throughout her career.

Human APOBEC3 (A3) cytidine deaminases constitute cellular intrinsic defense mechanism, inhibiting replication of retroviruses acting in both innate and adaptive pathways. A3B exhibit insertion/deletion (I/D) polymorphism providing immunity to retroviral infection. In humans, high-frequency distribution of 29.5 kb deletion occurs and A3B deletion genotype results in complete loss of A3B coding region. IL-16, a proinflammatory cytokine, activates T-cells by binding to CD4. Recently, SNP involving T/C substitution at position 295 has been described. This study investigated the effect of I/D and IL-16 (295 T/C) polymorphism on susceptibility to HIV among 84 HIV seronegative (HSN) and 26 HIV seropositive (HSP) individuals in North Indian population, which was assessed based on frequencies of genotypes: deletion-homozygous (D/D), hemizygous (D/I), no deletion (I/I) and IL 16 (295 T/C) between infected and uninfected cohorts. Genotypic Frequencies showed no significant difference between HSP and HSN of A3B (I/I 57.7%, I/D 30.8% and D/D 11.5%) (I/I 42.9%, I/D 30.9% and D/D 26.2%) and IL16 (295) (T/T 88.5%, T/C 7.7%, C/C 3.8%) (T/T 82%, T/C 9.5%, C/C 8.3%). Also no association of deletion allele was observed in HSN (I vs D: OR = 0.327, p = 0.093, 95% CI= 0.085-1.26 and I vs I/D: OR = 0.738, p = 0.550, 95% CI = 0.273-1.9) compared with HSP. Herein, preliminary analysis of our data shows no significant impact of A3B deletion and IL 16 polymorphism in the predisposition of HIV-1 susceptibility. Further val

Background: Mother-to-child HIV transmission remains very high in Cameroon. Therefore, Follow up of numerous HIV infected infants is a critical issue in the country. Here, we investigated the file of HIV infected infants remaining asymptomatic in the absence of anti-retroviral therapy (ART). The first goal was to obtain an estimate of the prevalence of infants with an HIV controller like status. Method: HIV infected infants, aged 6 months to 17 years children presenting at CIRCB for biological examinations were enrolled upon signed a proxy-consent. The enrollment took place from April 2011 to February 2013. From the medical file of 359 HIV vertically infected infants, 41 were found naive of anti-retroviral therapy and free of clinical symptoms. Diseases related to HIV infection (oral candidosis, zona, chronic diarrhea, pulmonary tuberculosis, dermatitis) were more particularly checked and corresponding infants not included in the study. From the selected infants, CD4 counts and viral load were recorded. Non-exposed children were enrolled as control group. Results: Of the 359 infants, 41 were ARV naive and free from HIV clinical symptoms. Five of them (12%) exhibit a viral load <1200 RNA copies/ml. Their CD4 counts were found not statistically different from those of a control group of HIV negative infants (p=0.33). Furthe rmore, ten years after contamination, three children did exhibit a viral load <5500 RNA copies/ml. Altogether, this suggests the existence of pediatric HIV controllers (pHIC) with a frequency much higher (>10%). Conclusion: Our preliminary cross sectional study highly suggests the existence of pediatric HIV controllers like in Cameroon despite all disfavoring living conditions. However, a longitudinal study would be required to confirm this hypothesis. The development of an HIV vaccine is applicable to infants of countries with high incidence of HIV infected people should benefit from the immunological analysis explaining the HIV controller (HIC) status.

Background: Everyday, more than 1,800 babies’ worldwide contracted with HIV from their mothers. Many of these cases occur in Africa including Ethiopia. The transmission of HIV from infected mothers to babies could occur during pregnancy, delivery and breastfeeding. For women to take advantage of measures to reduce transmission, they need to know about Mother to Child Transmission (MTCT) of HIV and their HIV status. The aim of this study was to assess the knowledge on MTCT and utilization of services designed for Prevention of Mother to Child Transmission (PMTCT) of HIV/AIDS among pregnant women. Methods: Community based cross-sectional study was conducted at Hossana town from March 3-28, 2014 using pre-tested questionnaire and structured interviews. The collected data were analyzed using SPSS version 16. Descriptive statistics and logistic regression analysis were done. Result: Out of the 417 pregnant women interviewed, 370 (88.7%) responded that they know MTCT of HIV, 377(90.4%) mothers tested for HIV during current pregnancy and 354(93.9%) shared test result to their husband. Few, 23(6.1%) did not disclose test result due to fear of divorce. The main reason for HIV testing, according to this study is to know self-status. Knowledge of Mother to child transmission was the independent predictor of utilization of the services rendered for PMTCT of HIV/AIDS. Conclusions: More than three-fourth of pregnant women knew about MTCT of HIV. Nine women in every ten tested for HIV during current pregnancy and shared test result to their husband. Knowledge of mother to child transmission of HIV/AIDS was the independent predictor of utilization of PMTCT services. Thus, improving awareness of pregnant women about MTCT of HIV/AIDS and its prevention strategies by means of health care providers in maternal and child health service units should be strengthened.

Integrase (IN) inhibitors are the most recently developed class of antiretroviral agents with raltegravir, elvitegravir and dolutegravir being approved by the FDA. However, the emergence of drug-resistant IN mutants has emphasized a need to develop additional agents that have improved efficacies against resistant IN strains. Novel inhibitor scaffolds could perhaps overcome problems of resistance with existing IN inhibitors and could be useful antiretroviral agents to be used alone or in combination with existing anti-HIV agents. Highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART) that combines single inhibitors targeting various stages of the viral life cycle has shown significant success. Multi-targeted single agents could provide the advantages of HAART such as lowered resistance while also circumventing the pharmacokinetic problems associated with HAART. Additionally, novel anti-HIV agents that target viral enzymes not yet explored could help alleviate resistance. The enzyme reverse transcriptase is responsible for the synthesis of double-stranded DNA starting from viral RNA and proceeds through an RNA/DNA hybrid intermediate. RNA removal is performed by the reverse transcriptase-associated ribonuclease H (RNase H). RNase H function is essential for viral replication and provides a novel therapeutic target for the development of antiretroviral agents. We have identified novel compounds with designed multi-targeted inhibitory attributes against IN and RNase H in silico. The synthesis for target compounds is underway and results from the molecular modeling study will be presented and discussed.

Although HIV-2 is generally less pathogenic than HIV-1, and its progression towards AIDS occurs less frequently. HIV-2 remains an important cause of disease in West Africa, where it is endemic. This study aimed to evaluate HIV-1 and HIV-2 prevalence among pregnant women and to describe the demographic and clinical profile of patients with HIV-2 infection from 2003 to 2013 at St Camille and General Lamizana Military Medical Centers. A retrospective investigation was conducted using 12,287 medical records from patients screened for HIV. To respond to the lack of data available regarding HIV-2 treatment and also to address the approach to clinical, biological as well as therapeutic monitoring, 62 HIV-2 infected patients’ medical records were studied. Seroprevalence of 10.6% and 0.14% were obtained respectively for HIV-1 and HIV-2 among 12,287 women screened during the study period. From the sixty two (62) HIV-2 patients, the average age was 49.2 years (sex ratio was 0.65). The weight loss and diarrhea were the major clinical manifestations observed, respectively 54.8% and 25.8%. Fungi and herpes zoster (shingles) infections were reported as major opportunistic infections. Also, nearly half of the patients had more than 60 kg, less than 2% were in WHO stage IV and about 2/3 had a CD4 count bellow 250 cells/mm3. AZT-3TC-IDV/LPV/R was the most prescribed combination. The gain in weight, the improvement of the body mass index (BMI) and the non-significant increase of the rate of CD4 between 1st (M1) and 24thmonth (M24) were observed after treatment with antiviral.