About

The HIV Brain Sequence Database (HIVBrainSeqDB) is a public database of HIV envelope sequences, directly sequenced from brain and other tissues from the same patients.

Sequences are annotated with clinical data including viral load, CD4 count, antiretroviral status, neurocognitive impairment, and neuropathological diagnosis, all curated from the original publication.

Tissue source is coded using an anatomical ontology, the Foundational Model of Anatomy, to capture the maximum level of detail available, while maintaining ontological relationships between tissues and their subparts.

44 tissue types are represented within the database, grouped into 4 categories: (i) brain, brainstem, and spinal cord; (ii) meninges, choroid plexus, and CSF; (iii) blood and lymphoid; and (iv) other (bone marrow, colon, lung, liver, etc).

Currently, the database contains 2517 envelope sequences from 90 patients, obtained from 22 published studies.  1272 sequences are from brain; the remaining 1245 are from blood, lymph node, spleen, bone marrow, colon, lung and other non-brain tissues.

The database interface utilizes a faceted interface, allowing real-time combination of multiple search parameters to assemble a meta-dataset, which can be downloaded for further analysis.

This online resource will greatly facilitate analysis of the genetic aspects of HIV macrophage tropism, HIV compartmentalization and evolution within the brain and other tissue reservoirs, and the relationship of these findings to HIV-associated neurological disorders and other clinical consequences of HIV infection.

For additional information or to cite the HIV Brain Sequence Database please see:

Holman et al. HIVBrainSeqDB: a database of annotated HIV envelope sequences from brain and other anatomical sites. AIDS Res Ther (2010) vol. 7 pp. 43

Development of the the HIV Brain Sequence Database was supported by an ARRA supplement NIH/NIMH #3ROI MH83588-12S1 and the parent grant MH83588.