The study of HIV-1 in the genital tract of women is necessary to understand pathogenesis, vaccine design, and heterosexual and mother-to-child transmission. In addition, in this era of potent antiviral therapy, examination of HIV-1 reservoirs in the genital tract is a high priority. Some have hypothesized that viruses from the genital tract and plasma differ from each other and that these differences affect HIV-1 disease progression. To test this hypothesis, the Candidate proposes to determine complete HIV-1 RNA sequences from virus in the genital tract, specifically the cervicovaginal lavage (CVL), and compare them to contemporaneous plasma sequences from the same individual. The Candidate and associates have developed a technique based on reverse transcription and long PCR to clone full-length HIV-1 RNA genomes from infected individuals. He now proposes to use this technique to analyze samples from participants in the NIH Women's Interagency HIV Study (WIHS), a longitudinal cohort study of HIV-1 infection in women, selecting participants who represent clinically significan endpoints.
| Philpott, Sean; Burger, Harold; Tsoukas, Christos et al. (2005) Human immunodeficiency virus type 1 genomic RNA sequences in the female genital tract and blood: compartmentalization and intrapatient recombination. J Virol 79:353-63 |
| Philpott, Sean; Burger, Harold; Tarwater, Patrick M et al. (2004) CCR2 genotype and disease progression in a treated population of HIV type 1-infected women. Clin Infect Dis 39:861-5 |
| Philpott, Sean; Weiser, Barbara; Tarwater, Patrick et al. (2003) CC chemokine receptor 5 genotype and susceptibility to transmission of human immunodeficiency virus type 1 in women. J Infect Dis 187:569-75 |
| Chakraborty, Rana; Gillespie, Geraldine M A; Reinis, Milan et al. (2002) HIV-1-specific CD8 T cell responses in a pediatric slow progressor infected as a premature neonate. AIDS 16:2085-7 |
| Philpott, S; Weiser, B; Anastos, K et al. (2001) Preferential suppression of CXCR4-specific strains of HIV-1 by antiviral therapy. J Clin Invest 107:431-8 |
