Characterization of circulating HIV-1 env genes in plasma of two antiretroviral naïve slow progressing patients with broad neutralizing antibody response with evidence of recombination

In the present study, we investigated genetic divergence between complete autologous HIV-1 env genes amplified directly from plasma of two anti-retroviral naïve, slow progressing Indian patients with broad neutralizing antibody response. All the envelopes (Env) clones obtained from one patient (LT1) belonged to subtype C; the second patient (LT5) harbored quasispecies comprising of pure B, C and B/C recombinants with distinct breakpoints indicative of dual infection with genetically distinct strains. Further characterization of these Envs would provide insights to the biological properties under strong humoral immune response.