Plasma RNA viral load in HIV-1 group O infection by real-time PCR.
HIV-1 group O strains are highly divergent, and are found mainly in central Africa. The clinical course of group O infection is identical to that of HIV-1 group M infection, with rapid onset of immunodeficiency. The important divergence of the HIV-1 group O strains lead to high limitations of the commercial tests. We describe here a method based on real-time polymerase chain reaction (PCR) to quantify plasma HIV-1 group O RNA. Primers amplify both HIV-1 group O and HIV-1 group M strains. Conversely, the probe is HIV-1 group O-specific. The standard used to quantify the clinical samples is an RNA solution resulting from the transcription of a plasmid including the amplified fragment of PCR. Our technique is capable of amplifying a wide range of HIV-1 group O strains belonging to the three current clades. This technique can be used to monitor HIV-1 group O viral load, which has previously been difficult.
Gueudin
Marie
M
Unité de Virologie, GRAM EA 2636, CHU Charles Nicolle, Rouen, France.
Simon
François
F
D001483:Base Sequence; D015658:HIV Infections / Q000235:genetics* / Q000821:virology*; D015497:HIV-1 / Q000145:classification* / Q000235:genetics*; D006801:Humans; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D010957:Plasmids; D012367:RNA, Viral / Q000097:blood* / Q000302:isolation & purification; D020133:Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction / Q000379:methods*; D019562:Viral Load / Q000379:methods*
D012367:RNA, Viral