title: American ginseng (Panax quinquefolius) administration does not affect performance of the Roche COBAS Ampliprep/Taqman HIV-1 RNA assay.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Previous data indicate that purified components of ginseng can inhibit HIV reverse transcriptase in vitro, suggesting that ginseng components in plasma may interfere with HIV-1 RNA detection assays.
  
  
  METHODS
  Pre- and post-dose plasma from three volunteers dosed with 3000 mg American ginseng was spiked with HIV and analyzed by the Roche COBAS Ampliprep/Taqman v2.0 HIV-1 RNA assay.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Presence of American ginseng had no significant effect on measured HIV-1 RNA concentration. Variation within pre- and post-dose plasma pair was insignificant and within assay performance limits.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Plasma from subjects dosed with 3000 mg American ginseng does not interfere with the Roche COBAS Ampliprep/Taqman v2.0 HIV-1 RNA assay. This implies that in vitro inhibition of HIV reverse transcriptase by American ginseng components is unlikely to be clinically relevant.
authors.forename: Rahul P
authors.initials: RP
authors.lastname: Bakshi
authors.forename: Todd T
authors.initials: TT
authors.lastname: Brown
authors.forename: Antoine
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Simmons
authors.forename: Chun-Su
authors.initials: CS
authors.lastname: Yuan
authors.forename: Brent A
authors.initials: BA
authors.lastname: Bauer
authors.forename: Jeff A
authors.initials: JA
authors.lastname: Sloan
authors.affiliation: Division of Infectious Diseases, Johns Hopkins University, 1830 E, Monument Street, Suite 8074, Baltimore, MD 21205, USA. aandrade@jhmi.edu.
authors.forename: Adriana
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Andrade
mesh_terms: D004365:Drugs, Chinese Herbal / Q000494:pharmacology*; D015658:HIV Infections / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000821:virology; D054303:HIV Reverse Transcriptase / Q000037:antagonists & inhibitors / Q000235:genetics; D015497:HIV-1 / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000201:enzymology / Q000235:genetics / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D006801:Humans; D005894:Panax / Q000737:chemistry*; D012367:RNA, Viral / Q000097:blood / Q000235:genetics; D011933:Reagent Kits, Diagnostic / Q000191:economics; D020133:Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction / Q000295:instrumentation / Q000379:methods*; D048348:Reverse Transcription / Q000187:drug effects
chemical_list: D004365:Drugs, Chinese Herbal; D012367:RNA, Viral; D011933:Reagent Kits, Diagnostic; D054303:HIV Reverse Transcriptase