Abstract
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. Objectives: 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.
Original language | English (US) |
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Pages (from-to) | 301-306 |
Number of pages | 6 |
Journal | Journal of Clinical Virology |
Volume | 40 |
Issue number | 4 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - Dec 2007 |
Keywords
- HIV-1 subtype C
- HIV-1 viral load
- Real-time RT-PCR
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Applied Microbiology and Biotechnology
- Virology
- Immunology and Allergy
- Infectious Diseases