Mouinga-Ondeme A., Mabika-Mabika A., Alalade P., Mongo A. D., Sica J., Liégeois Florian, Rouet F. (2014). Significant impact of non-B HIV-1 variants genetic diversity in Gabon on plasma HIV-1 RNA quantitation. Journal of Medical Virology, 86 (1), p. 52-57. ISSN 0146-6615.
Titre du document
Significant impact of non-B HIV-1 variants genetic diversity in Gabon on plasma HIV-1 RNA quantitation
Mouinga-Ondeme A., Mabika-Mabika A., Alalade P., Mongo A. D., Sica J., Liégeois Florian, Rouet F.
Source
Journal of Medical Virology, 2014,
86 (1), p. 52-57 ISSN 0146-6615
Evaluations of HIV-1 RNA viral load assays are lacking in Central Africa. The main objective of our study was to assess the reliability of HIV-1 RNA results obtained with three different assays for samples collected in Gabon. A total of 137 plasma specimens were assessed for HIV-1 RNA using the Abbott RealTime HIV-1 (R) and Nuclisens HIV-1 EasyQ (R) version 2.0 assays. It included HIV-1 non-B samples (n = 113) representing six subtypes, 10 CRFs and 18 URFs from patients infected with HIV-1 and treated with antiretrovirals that were found HIV-1 RNA positive (>= 300 copies/ml) with the Generic HIV viral load (R) assay; and samples (n = 24) from untreated individuals infected with HIV-1 but showing undetectable (<300 copies/ml) results with the Biocentric kit. For samples found positive with the Generic HIV viral load (R) test, correlation coefficients obtained between the three techniques were relatively low (R = 0.65 between Generic HIV viral load (R) and Abbott RealTime HIV-1 (R), 0.50 between Generic HIV viral load (R) and Nuclisens HIV-1 EasyQ (R), and 0.66 between Abbott RealTime HIV-1 (R) and Nuclisens HIV-1 EasyQ (R)). Discrepancies by at least one log(10) were obtained for 19.6%, 33.7%, and 20% of samples, respectively, irrespective of genotype. Most of samples (22/24) from untreated study patients, found negative with the Biocentric kit, were also found negative with the two other techniques. In Central Africa, HIV-1 genetic diversity remains challenging for viral load testing. Further studies are required in the same area to confirm the presence of HIV-1 strains that are not amplified with at least two different viral load assays. J. Med. Virol. 86:52-57, 2014.
