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Comparative Study
. 2004 Jul 1;36(3):777-82.
doi: 10.1097/00126334-200407010-00003.

HIV-2-infected individuals with undetectable plasma viremia carry replication-competent virus in peripheral blood lymphocytes

Hetty Blaak  1 , Patrick H M Boers, Martin Schutten, Marchina E van der Endeñ, Albert D M E Osterhaus
Affiliations
Comparative Study

HIV-2-infected individuals with undetectable plasma viremia carry replication-competent virus in peripheral blood lymphocytes

Hetty Blaak et al. J Acquir Immune Defic Syndr. .

Abstract

Using an optimized HIV co-culture protocol it was possible to isolate infectious HIV-2 variants from 6 HIV-2-infected individuals who had undetectable plasma viremia and maintained high CD4 T-cell numbers for prolonged periods. This shows for the first time that HIV-2-infected individuals with no demonstrable in vivo virus production carry replication-competent virus in peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs). The frequency of PBMCs with infectious virus was low, ranging from 0.01-0.9 infectious units per million (IUPM) CD4 T cells with a median value of 0.2 IUPM. In comparison, viremic HIV-2-infected individuals had a 2-log higher median infectious load (36 IUPM, range 1-673; P = 0.003). HIV-2 infectious load correlated with CD4 counts (rs = -0.88, P < 0.0001). The low infectious load in aviremic HIV-2-infected persons is reminiscent of what has been observed for HIV-1 infection controlled by highly active antiretroviral therapy.

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