title: Evaluation of the NucliSens EasyQ HIV-1 v1.1 and RealTime HIV-1 kits for quantitation of HIV-1 RNA in plasma.
abstract: Human immunodeficiency virus type-1 (HIV-1) RNA viral load is an important biomarker to evaluate the therapeutic efficacy of antiretroviral drugs and to monitor disease progression in HIV-infected individuals. We compared HIV-1 RNA quantitation between two different kits, the NucliSens EasyQ HIV-1 v1.1 (EasyQ, bioMérieux) and RealTime HIV-1 (RealTime, Abbott), using HIV-1 RNA quality control (QC) materials, cell-cultivated viruses, and the plasma samples of 104 patients with HIV. Correlation between the two kits for HIV RNA-1 quantitation with clinical samples was high (R=0.91). Based on results obtained with quality control standards, the reproducibility of the RealTime kit was higher than the EasyQ kit: the viral load value and coefficient of variation of each kit was 4.11+/-0.136 and 3.3% for EasyQ and 3.55+/-0.042 and 1.2% for RealTime, respectively (P<0.002). This is the first comparative analysis of the detection limit and reproducibility of two different quantitation kits using clinical plasma samples from Korean HIV-1-infected patients. It will serve a useful reference to determine correction values for each HIV-1 RNA quantitation kits and to choose an appropriate assay kit for each laboratory.
authors: Division of AIDS, Department of Immunology and Pathology, National Institute of Health, 5 Nokbun-dong, Eunpyung-gu, Seoul, South Korea.
authors: Ju-yeon
authors: JY
authors: Choi
authors: Eun-Jin
authors: EJ
authors: Kim
authors: Hyun Joo
authors: HJ
authors: Rho
authors: Jin Young
authors: JY
authors: Kim
authors: Oh-Kyung
authors: OK
authors: Kwon
authors: Jin-Hee
authors: JH
authors: Lee
authors: Min Jee
authors: MJ
authors: Koo
authors: Sung Soon
authors: SS
authors: Kim
mesh_terms: D015658:HIV Infections / Q000821:virology*; D015497:HIV-1 / Q000235:genetics / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D006801:Humans; D021141:Nucleic Acid Amplification Techniques / Q000379:methods*; D010949:Plasma / Q000821:virology*; D012367:RNA, Viral / Q000097:blood*; D011933:Reagent Kits, Diagnostic; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D019562:Viral Load / Q000379:methods*
chemical_list: D012367:RNA, Viral; D011933:Reagent Kits, Diagnostic