[HIV infected macrophages isolated from HIV+ patients with undetectable viral load undergoing combined antiretroviral treatment].
A new method of culture of peripheral blood leukocytes (PBMC) from HIV+ patients, in the absence of exogenous stimuli (allogeneic cells or cytokines) (PBMC w/s) was used for the detection of persistent viral infection in HIV patients who had undergone successful highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART) lowering their viral burden to undetectable levels (< 50 RNA copies/ml). Infected cells were always of the monocyte/macrophage lineage (M). No infection could be detected in these patients using the classical system (co-culture with HIV-CMP activated with PHA and IL-2). Differences in the class of target cells (higher proportion of proliferating M and CCR5 expressing cells in the PBMC w/s system than in PBMC-PHA cultures) may determine the relative sensitivity of each technique to achieve successful isolation of HIV from different patients.
Belmonte
L
L
Instituto de Investigaciones Hematológicas, Academia Nacional de Medicina, Pacheco de Melo 3081, 1425 Buenos Aires, Argentina. direccion@iihema.anm.edu.ar
Baré
P
P
Corti
M
M
Bracco
M M
MM
Ruibal-Ares
B
B
D023241:Antiretroviral Therapy, Highly Active / Q000379:methods*; D006678:HIV / Q000302:isolation & purification* / Q000502:physiology; D015658:HIV Infections / Q000188:drug therapy*; D006801:Humans; D008264:Macrophages / Q000821:virology*; D019562:Viral Load; D014779:Virus Replication