title: Low plasma human immunodeficiency virus type 2 viral load is independent of proviral load: low virus production in vivo.
abstract: Levels of virus in the plasma are closely related to the pathogenicity of human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1). HIV-2 is much less pathogenic than HIV-1, and infection with HIV-2 leads to significantly lower plasma viral load. To identify the source of this difference, we measured both viral RNA and proviral DNA in matched samples from 34 HIV-2-infected individuals. Nearly half had undetectable viral RNA loads (<100 copies/ml), but levels of proviral DNA were relatively high and confirmed that quantities of provirus in HIV-1 and HIV-2 infection were similar. Overall, HIV-2 proviral DNA load did not correlate with viral RNA load, and higher viral RNA load was associated with increased production of plasma virus from the proviral template. These results suggest that low viral load in HIV-2 infection is due to decreased rates of viral production, rather than differences in target cell infectivity.
authors.affiliation: Department of Immunology and Infectious Diseases and the Harvard AIDS Institute, Harvard School of Public Health, Boston, Massachusetts.
authors.forename: S J
authors.initials: SJ
authors.lastname: Popper
authors.forename: A D
authors.initials: AD
authors.lastname: Sarr
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Guèye-Ndiaye
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Mboup
authors.forename: M E
authors.initials: ME
authors.lastname: Essex
authors.forename: P J
authors.initials: PJ
authors.lastname: Kanki
mesh_terms: D018791:CD4 Lymphocyte Count; D015331:Cohort Studies; D004279:DNA, Viral / Q000097:blood*; D005260:Female; D015658:HIV Infections / Q000821:virology*; D015498:HIV-2 / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D011533:Proviruses / Q000502:physiology*; D012367:RNA, Viral / Q000097:blood*; D011477:Sex Work; D019562:Viral Load
chemical_list: D004279:DNA, Viral; D012367:RNA, Viral