Bagnarelli P, Menzo S, Valenza A, Clementi M; International Conference on AIDS.
Int Conf AIDS. 1993 Jun 6-11; 9: 40 (abstract no. WS-A24-3).
Institute of Microbiology, University of Ancona, Italy.
Quantitative molecular methods to evaluate HIV-1 viremia and HIV-1 gene expression are necessary for the pathogenic investigation of the steps leading to AIDS, for the correct clinical management of asymptomatic and symptomatic patients, and for the study of viral tissue tropism. In this study, quantitative data (genomic RNA copy numbers in plasma samples, specific viral transcripts in PBLs, proviral DNA copy numbers, mean transcriptional activity per individual provirus) were obtained using a competitive PCR-based technique (cRT-PCR) and sequential samples from patients at any phase of the infection. Results from 50 untreated subjects followed at seroconversion or at different clinical phases of infection (CDC classes II-IV) indicate that (i) viral activity is never silenced in this infection, (ii) a high degree of correlation exists between the quantitative molecular parameters and infection progression. Additionally, an early and direct measure of the therapy efficacy and drug resistance in vivo was given by cRT-PCR in sequential samples of two groups of HIV-1 patients (patients with high and low viral activity detected at the beginning of the treatment) treated with different antiretroviral compounds. Finally, applicability of the method employed in quantifying the HIV-1 load in cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) samples of patients with and without CNS diseases was evaluated: although high individual variability was observed in this case, the mean cell free genomic RNA copy number in CSF samples of AIDS patients with different CNS diseases (19,410 per ml CSF) was significantly higher than in other AIDS patients (3,221).
Publication Types:
Keywords:
- Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome
- CD4 Lymphocyte Count
- HIV Infections
- HIV-1
- Humans
- Laboratory Techniques and Procedures
- Polymerase Chain Reaction
- Proviruses
- Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction
- Viral Load
- Viremia
- organization & administration
Other ID:
UI: 102204531
From Meeting Abstracts