JCM Accepts, published online ahead of print on 2 July 2008

This Article Full Text (PDF) Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in PubMed Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Reprints and Permissions Copyright Information Books from ASM Press MicrobeWorld Citing Articles Citing Articles via HighWire Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Holguín, A. Articles by Soriano, V. Search for Related Content PubMed PubMed Citation Articles by Holguín, A. Articles by Soriano, V.

 Previous Article  |  Next Article 

J. Clin. Microbiol. doi:10.1128/JCM.02414-07
Copyright (c) 2008, American Society for Microbiology and/or the Listed Authors/Institutions. All Rights Reserved.

PERFORMANCE OF THREE COMMERCIAL VIRAL LOAD ASSAYS: VERSANT HIV-1 RNA bDNA v3.0, COBAS AmpliPrep/COBAS TaqMan HIV-1 TEST AND NUCLISENS HIV-1 EasyQ v1.2 TESTING HIV-1 NON-B SUBTYPES AND RECOMBINANT VARIANTS

Africa Holguín^*, Marisa López, Mar Molinero, and Vincent Soriano

Department of Infectious Diseases. Hospital Carlos III, Madrid, Spain; HIV-1 Molecular Epidemiology Laboratory. Department of Microbiology, Hospital Universitario Ramón y Cajal and CIBER-ESP, Madrid, Spain

^* To whom correspondence should be addressed. Email: aholguin.hciii{at}salud.madrid.org.

Monitoring antiretroviral therapy requires that HIV-1 viraemia assays are applicable to all distinct variants. This study evaluates the performance of three commercial viral load assays: VERSANT HIV-1 RNA bDNA v3.0, COBAS AmpliPrep/COBAS TaqMan HIV-1 Test, and NUCLISENS HIV-1 EasyQ v1.2 testing 83 plasma specimens from patients carrying HIV-1 non-B subtypes and recombinants previously defined by phylogenetic analysis of the pol gene. All 28 specimens from patients under treatment presented viraemia values below the detection limit with the three methods. In the remaining 55 specimens from naive individuals viraemia could not be detected in 32.7%, 20%, and 14.6% using Nuclisens, Versant, or TaqMan, respectively, suggesting potential viral load underestimation of some samples by all techniques. Only 32 (58.2%) samples from naive subjects were quantified by the three methods, and Nuclisens provided the highest HIV-RNA values (mean 4.87log copies/ml) and Versant the lowest (mean 4.16log copies/ml). Viraemia differences above 1log were seen in 8 (14.5%) of 55 specimens, occurring in 10.9%, 7.3% and 5.4% when Versant vs. Nuclisens, Versant vs. TaqMan and TaqMan vs. Nuclisens, respectively, were compared. Differences above 0.5log, considered significant for clinicians, occurred in 45.5%, 27.3%, and 29% comparing the same assays. Some HIV-1 strains, such as subtype G and CRF02_AG, showed more discrepancies using distinct quantification methods than others. In summary, an adequate design of primers and probes is needed for optimal quantitation of plasma HIV-RNA in non-B subtypes. Our data reinforce the need for monitoring patients on therapy with the same method and the convenience of HIV-1 subtyping.

This article has been cited by other articles:

• Wirden, M., Tubiana, R., Marguet, F., Leroy, I., Simon, A., Bonmarchand, M., Ait-Arkoub, Z., Murphy, R., Marcelin, A. G., Katlama, C., Calvez, V. (2009). Impact of Discrepancies between the Abbott RealTime and Cobas TaqMan Assays for Quantification of Human Immunodeficiency Virus Type 1 Group M Non-B Subtypes. J. Clin. Microbiol. 47: 1543-1545 [Abstract] [Full Text]