Giuseppe
Emeritus
[Source: PLoS ONE, full text: (LINK). Abstract, edited.]
A Novel Genotype of GB Virus C: Its Identification and Predominance among Injecting Drug Users in Yunnan, China
Yue Feng<SUP>1</SUP>, Wenhua Zhao<SUP>2</SUP>, Yuemei Feng<SUP>3</SUP>, Jiejie Dai<SUP>4</SUP>, Zheng Li<SUP>5</SUP>, Xiaoyan Zhang<SUP>6</SUP>, Li Liu<SUP>1</SUP>, Jie Bai<SUP>1</SUP>, Huatang Zhang<SUP>3</SUP>, Ling Lu<SUP>7</SUP><SUP>,</SUP><SUP>8</SUP>, Xueshan Xia<SUP>1</SUP><SUP>*</SUP>
1 Faculty of Environmental Science and Engineering and Faculty of Life Science and Technology, Kunming University of Science and Technology, Kunming, Yunnan, China, 2 The Key Laboratory of Tropical and Subtropical Animal Viral Diseases in Yunnan province, Kunming, Yunnan, China, 3 Key Laboratory of Animal Models and Human Disease Mechanisms of Chinese Academy of Sciences and Yunnan Province, Kunming Institute of Zoology, Kunming, China, 4 Institute of Medical Biology, Chinese Academy of Medical Science and Peking Union Medical College, Kunming, Yunnan, China, 5 The Clinical Laboratory Center of Yunnan Province, Affiliated Kunhua Hospital of Kunming Medical College, Kunming, China, 6 Research Center of Shanghai Public Health Clinical Center, Institutes of Biomedical Sciences, Fudan University , Shanghai, China, 7 The Viral Oncology Center, Department of Pathology, University of Kansas Medical Center, Kansas City, Kansas, United States of America, 8 Laboratory of Hepatology, 3rd Affiliated Hospital, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou, Guangdong, China
Abstract
GB virus C (GBV-C) is prevalent globally and particularly among individuals at risk of parental exposures. Based on genetic diversity, this virus is now classified into six genotypes and many subtypes with distinct geographical distribution. In this study, 120 Injecting Drug Users (IDUs) were recruited from Yunnan province, China. Among them, 43 (35.8%) were positive for GBV-C RNA, 70 (58.3%) and 103 (85.8%) sero-positive for HIV-1 and HCV respectively. This revealed 18.3% of IDUs having GBV-C/HIV/HCV triple infection, which is significantly higher than 7.5% of GBV-C/HIV-1 and 10% of GBV-C/HCV dual infection rates (P<0.05). Based on 5′UTR sequences, the identified 43 viral isolates can be classified into three phylogenetic groups: one (2.3%) and two (4.7%) belonged to genotype 3 and 4, respectively, and the remaining 40 (93%) formed a new group with 97% of bootstrap support. This new GBV-C group was further confirmed by characterizing the E2 region and full-length genome sequences. Analysis of 187 nt 5′UTR sequence showed three previous reported isolates from Southeast Asia were re-classified into this new group. It implies they have the same origin with strains from Yunnan. Although we provisionally assigned this new group as GBV-C genotype 7, a simpler five groups of GBV-C nomenclature is recommended. Genotype 4, 6 and the newly designated genotype 7 could be reclassified as one group, which may represent a single GBV-C genotype. The classification of the other four groups was corresponding to that of previous reported genotype 1, 2, 3 and 5. Furthermore, the diversity of amino acid sequence in the E2 region was analyzed. The inhibitory effect of GBV-C genotype 7 on HIV-1 cell entry could be deduced. Since GBV-C may have a beneficial effect on AIDS disease progression and interact with HCV during co-infection, this finding may raise interests in future studies on this virus that was previously thought to be a ?non-pathogenic virus?.
Citation: Feng Y, Zhao W, Feng Y, Dai J, Li Z, et al. (2011) A Novel Genotype of GB Virus C: Its Identification and Predominance among Injecting Drug Users in Yunnan, China. PLoS ONE 6(10): e21151. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0021151
Editor: Todd Davis, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, United States of America
Received: November 30, 2010; Accepted: May 20, 2011; Published: October 6, 2011
Copyright: ? 2011 Feng et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
Funding: This work was financially supported by grants from the Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC) (No. 30960346 and No. 30960005) and the National Basic Research Program of China (973 Program, 2009CB522502), and partially supported by Chinese Key Projects in the National Science & Technology Pillar Program during the Eleventh Five-Year Plan Period (2009BAI83B02). The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.
Competing interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.
* E-mail: oliverxia2000@yahoo.com.cn
- -------Yue Feng<SUP>1</SUP>, Wenhua Zhao<SUP>2</SUP>, Yuemei Feng<SUP>3</SUP>, Jiejie Dai<SUP>4</SUP>, Zheng Li<SUP>5</SUP>, Xiaoyan Zhang<SUP>6</SUP>, Li Liu<SUP>1</SUP>, Jie Bai<SUP>1</SUP>, Huatang Zhang<SUP>3</SUP>, Ling Lu<SUP>7</SUP><SUP>,</SUP><SUP>8</SUP>, Xueshan Xia<SUP>1</SUP><SUP>*</SUP>
1 Faculty of Environmental Science and Engineering and Faculty of Life Science and Technology, Kunming University of Science and Technology, Kunming, Yunnan, China, 2 The Key Laboratory of Tropical and Subtropical Animal Viral Diseases in Yunnan province, Kunming, Yunnan, China, 3 Key Laboratory of Animal Models and Human Disease Mechanisms of Chinese Academy of Sciences and Yunnan Province, Kunming Institute of Zoology, Kunming, China, 4 Institute of Medical Biology, Chinese Academy of Medical Science and Peking Union Medical College, Kunming, Yunnan, China, 5 The Clinical Laboratory Center of Yunnan Province, Affiliated Kunhua Hospital of Kunming Medical College, Kunming, China, 6 Research Center of Shanghai Public Health Clinical Center, Institutes of Biomedical Sciences, Fudan University , Shanghai, China, 7 The Viral Oncology Center, Department of Pathology, University of Kansas Medical Center, Kansas City, Kansas, United States of America, 8 Laboratory of Hepatology, 3rd Affiliated Hospital, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou, Guangdong, China
Abstract
GB virus C (GBV-C) is prevalent globally and particularly among individuals at risk of parental exposures. Based on genetic diversity, this virus is now classified into six genotypes and many subtypes with distinct geographical distribution. In this study, 120 Injecting Drug Users (IDUs) were recruited from Yunnan province, China. Among them, 43 (35.8%) were positive for GBV-C RNA, 70 (58.3%) and 103 (85.8%) sero-positive for HIV-1 and HCV respectively. This revealed 18.3% of IDUs having GBV-C/HIV/HCV triple infection, which is significantly higher than 7.5% of GBV-C/HIV-1 and 10% of GBV-C/HCV dual infection rates (P<0.05). Based on 5′UTR sequences, the identified 43 viral isolates can be classified into three phylogenetic groups: one (2.3%) and two (4.7%) belonged to genotype 3 and 4, respectively, and the remaining 40 (93%) formed a new group with 97% of bootstrap support. This new GBV-C group was further confirmed by characterizing the E2 region and full-length genome sequences. Analysis of 187 nt 5′UTR sequence showed three previous reported isolates from Southeast Asia were re-classified into this new group. It implies they have the same origin with strains from Yunnan. Although we provisionally assigned this new group as GBV-C genotype 7, a simpler five groups of GBV-C nomenclature is recommended. Genotype 4, 6 and the newly designated genotype 7 could be reclassified as one group, which may represent a single GBV-C genotype. The classification of the other four groups was corresponding to that of previous reported genotype 1, 2, 3 and 5. Furthermore, the diversity of amino acid sequence in the E2 region was analyzed. The inhibitory effect of GBV-C genotype 7 on HIV-1 cell entry could be deduced. Since GBV-C may have a beneficial effect on AIDS disease progression and interact with HCV during co-infection, this finding may raise interests in future studies on this virus that was previously thought to be a ?non-pathogenic virus?.
Citation: Feng Y, Zhao W, Feng Y, Dai J, Li Z, et al. (2011) A Novel Genotype of GB Virus C: Its Identification and Predominance among Injecting Drug Users in Yunnan, China. PLoS ONE 6(10): e21151. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0021151
Editor: Todd Davis, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, United States of America
Received: November 30, 2010; Accepted: May 20, 2011; Published: October 6, 2011
Copyright: ? 2011 Feng et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
Funding: This work was financially supported by grants from the Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC) (No. 30960346 and No. 30960005) and the National Basic Research Program of China (973 Program, 2009CB522502), and partially supported by Chinese Key Projects in the National Science & Technology Pillar Program during the Eleventh Five-Year Plan Period (2009BAI83B02). The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.
Competing interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.
* E-mail: oliverxia2000@yahoo.com.cn