Correlation of immune activation with HIV-1 RNA levels assayed by real-time RT-PCR in HIV-1 subtype C infected patients in Northern India.
BACKGROUND
Assays with specificity and cost effectiveness are needed for the measurement of HIV-1 burden to monitor disease progression or response to anti-retroviral therapy (ART) in HIV-1 subtype C infected patients.


OBJECTIVE
The objective of this study was to develop and validate an affordable one step real-time RT-PCR assay with high specificity and sensitivity to measure plasma HIV-1 loads in HIV-1 subtype C infected patients.


RESULTS
We developed an RT-PCR assay to detect and quantitate plasma HIV-1 levels in HIV-1 subtype C infected patients. An inverse correlation between plasma viral loads (PVL) and CD4+ T-cell numbers was detected at all CDC stages. Significant correlations were found between CD8+ T-cell activation and PVL, as well as with the clinical and immunological status of the patients.


CONCLUSIONS
This RT-PCR assay provides a sensitive method to measure PVL in HIV-1 subtype C infected patients. Viral loads correlated with immune activation and can be used to monitor HIV care in India.
Agarwal
Atima
A
Departments of Microbiology and Biostatistics, All India Institutes of Medical Sciences, New Delhi, India.
Sankaran
Sumathi
S
Vajpayee
Madhu
M
Sreenivas
V
V
Seth
Pradeep
P
Dandekar
Satya
S
D015496:CD4-Positive T-Lymphocytes / Q000276:immunology; D018414:CD8-Positive T-Lymphocytes / Q000276:immunology; D015658:HIV Infections / Q000097:blood / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000276:immunology* / Q000821:virology*; D015497:HIV-1 / Q000145:classification / Q000235:genetics / Q000276:immunology / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D006801:Humans; D007194:India; D008213:Lymphocyte Activation; D012367:RNA, Viral / Q000097:blood*; D020133:Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction / Q000379:methods*; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D019562:Viral Load / Q000379:methods*
D012367:RNA, Viral