title: Plasma viral load threshold for sustaining intrahost HIV type 1 evolution.
abstract: The objective of the present study was to determine if natural suppression of plasma viremia below the detection limit of commercial assays (50-80 copies HIV-1 RNA/ml) can contain the HIV-1 evolution. HIV-1 quasispecies complexity in PBMC DNA was assessed in the env gene at two time points in 14 long-term nonprogressors (LTNPs). Sequence changes consistent with viral evolution was found in all patients with a median plasma RNA viral load >100 copies/ml. Evidence of low-level viral evolution was detected in two of four patients with intermittent viremia and a median plasma HIV-1 RNA load of >80 copies/ml. No significant evolution was observed in the three LTNPs with persistent viral suppression below the detection limit. Overall, a significant positive correlation (p < 0.001) was observed between viral evolution and plasma RNA viral load in the LTNPs analyzed. These results suggest that the detection limit of ultrasensitive viremia assays could represent an important threshold below which intrahost HIV-1 evolution does not occur.
authors.affiliation: Laboratorio de AIDS e Imunologia Molecular, Instituto Oswaldo Cruz, FIOCRUZ, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
authors.forename: Gonzalo
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Bello
authors.forename: Concepción
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Casado
authors.forename: Virginia
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Sandonis
authors.forename: Tamara
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Alvaro-Cifuentes
authors.forename: Caio A Rodrigues
authors.initials: CA
authors.lastname: Dos Santos
authors.forename: Soledad
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: García
authors.forename: Carmen
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Rodríguez
authors.forename: Jorge
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Del Romero
authors.forename: José H
authors.initials: JH
authors.lastname: Pilotto
authors.forename: Beatriz
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Grinsztejn
authors.forename: Valdilea G
authors.initials: VG
authors.lastname: Veloso
authors.forename: Mariza G
authors.initials: MG
authors.lastname: Morgado
authors.forename: Cecilio
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: López-Galíndez
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D023241:Antiretroviral Therapy, Highly Active; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D019143:Evolution, Molecular; D005260:Female; D015752:Genes, env; D015658:HIV Infections / Q000821:virology*; D020276:HIV Long-Term Survivors; D015497:HIV-1 / Q000235:genetics* / Q000502:physiology; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010802:Phylogeny; D012367:RNA, Viral / Q000097:blood; D019562:Viral Load; D014766:Viremia / Q000821:virology
chemical_list: D012367:RNA, Viral