Improved Prediction of HIV-1 Coreceptor Usage with Sequence Information from the Second Hypervariable Loop of gp120

摘要

Background. Human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) uses the CD4 receptor and a coreceptor to gain cell entry. Coreceptor usage is mainly determined by the V3 loop of gp120. Therefore, coreceptor usage is currently inferred from the genotype on the basis of V3 alone. However, several mutations outside V3 have been repeatedly reported to influence coreceptor usage. In this study, the impact of the V2 loop on coreceptor usage prediction was analyzed.