Skip to main content
  • ASM
    • Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy
    • Applied and Environmental Microbiology
    • Clinical Microbiology Reviews
    • Clinical and Vaccine Immunology
    • EcoSal Plus
    • Eukaryotic Cell
    • Infection and Immunity
    • Journal of Bacteriology
    • Journal of Clinical Microbiology
    • Journal of Microbiology & Biology Education
    • Journal of Virology
    • mBio
    • Microbiology and Molecular Biology Reviews
    • Microbiology Resource Announcements
    • Microbiology Spectrum
    • Molecular and Cellular Biology
    • mSphere
    • mSystems
  • Log in
  • My alerts
  • My Cart

Main menu

  • Home
  • Articles
    • Current Issue
    • Accepted Manuscripts
    • COVID-19 Special Collection
    • Archive
    • Minireviews
  • For Authors
    • Submit a Manuscript
    • Scope
    • Editorial Policy
    • Submission, Review, & Publication Processes
    • Organization and Format
    • Errata, Author Corrections, Retractions
    • Illustrations and Tables
    • Nomenclature
    • Abbreviations and Conventions
    • Publication Fees
    • Ethics Resources and Policies
  • About the Journal
    • About JCM
    • Editor in Chief
    • Editorial Board
    • For Reviewers
    • For the Media
    • For Librarians
    • For Advertisers
    • Alerts
    • RSS
    • FAQ
  • Subscribe
    • Members
    • Institutions
  • ASM
    • Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy
    • Applied and Environmental Microbiology
    • Clinical Microbiology Reviews
    • Clinical and Vaccine Immunology
    • EcoSal Plus
    • Eukaryotic Cell
    • Infection and Immunity
    • Journal of Bacteriology
    • Journal of Clinical Microbiology
    • Journal of Microbiology & Biology Education
    • Journal of Virology
    • mBio
    • Microbiology and Molecular Biology Reviews
    • Microbiology Resource Announcements
    • Microbiology Spectrum
    • Molecular and Cellular Biology
    • mSphere
    • mSystems

User menu

  • Log in
  • My alerts
  • My Cart

Search

  • Advanced search
Journal of Clinical Microbiology
publisher-logosite-logo

Advanced Search

  • Home
  • Articles
    • Current Issue
    • Accepted Manuscripts
    • COVID-19 Special Collection
    • Archive
    • Minireviews
  • For Authors
    • Submit a Manuscript
    • Scope
    • Editorial Policy
    • Submission, Review, & Publication Processes
    • Organization and Format
    • Errata, Author Corrections, Retractions
    • Illustrations and Tables
    • Nomenclature
    • Abbreviations and Conventions
    • Publication Fees
    • Ethics Resources and Policies
  • About the Journal
    • About JCM
    • Editor in Chief
    • Editorial Board
    • For Reviewers
    • For the Media
    • For Librarians
    • For Advertisers
    • Alerts
    • RSS
    • FAQ
  • Subscribe
    • Members
    • Institutions
Virology

Comparative Performances of HIV-1 RNA Load Assays at Low Viral Load Levels: Results of an International Collaboration

Luke C. Swenson, Bryan Cobb, Anna Maria Geretti, P. Richard Harrigan, Mario Poljak, Carole Seguin-Devaux, Chris Verhofstede, Marc Wirden, Alessandra Amendola, Jurg Boni, Thomas Bourlet, Jon B. Huder, Jean-Claude Karasi, Snjezana Zidovec Lepej, Maja M. Lunar, Odette Mukabayire, Rob Schuurman, Janez Tomažič, Kristel Van Laethem, Linos Vandekerckhove, Annemarie M. J. Wensing
Y.-W. Tang, Editor
Luke C. Swenson
aBC Centre for Excellence in HIV/AIDS, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
  • Find this author on Google Scholar
  • Find this author on PubMed
  • Search for this author on this site
Bryan Cobb
bRoche Molecular Systems, Pleasanton, California, USA
  • Find this author on Google Scholar
  • Find this author on PubMed
  • Search for this author on this site
Anna Maria Geretti
cInstitute of Infection and Global Health, University of Liverpool, United Kingdom
  • Find this author on Google Scholar
  • Find this author on PubMed
  • Search for this author on this site
P. Richard Harrigan
aBC Centre for Excellence in HIV/AIDS, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
  • Find this author on Google Scholar
  • Find this author on PubMed
  • Search for this author on this site
Mario Poljak
dUniversity of Ljubljana, Institute of Microbiology and Immunology, Ljubljana, Slovenia
  • Find this author on Google Scholar
  • Find this author on PubMed
  • Search for this author on this site
Carole Seguin-Devaux
eLaboratory of Retrovirology, CRP-Santé, Luxembourg, Luxembourg
  • Find this author on Google Scholar
  • Find this author on PubMed
  • Search for this author on this site
Chris Verhofstede
fAIDS Reference Laboratory, Ghent University, Ghent, Belgium
  • Find this author on Google Scholar
  • Find this author on PubMed
  • Search for this author on this site
Marc Wirden
gAP-HP, Pitié-Salpêtrière Hospital, INSERM U 943, and Pierre et Marie Curie University Paris, Paris, France
  • Find this author on Google Scholar
  • Find this author on PubMed
  • Search for this author on this site
Alessandra Amendola
hLaboratory of Virology, National Institute for Infectious Diseases Lazzaro Spallanzani, Rome, Italy
  • Find this author on Google Scholar
  • Find this author on PubMed
  • Search for this author on this site
Jurg Boni
iInstitute of Medical Virology, Swiss National Center for Retroviruses, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland
  • Find this author on Google Scholar
  • Find this author on PubMed
  • Search for this author on this site
Thomas Bourlet
jLaboratory of Virology, CHU de Saint-Etienne, Saint-Etienne, France
  • Find this author on Google Scholar
  • Find this author on PubMed
  • Search for this author on this site
Jon B. Huder
iInstitute of Medical Virology, Swiss National Center for Retroviruses, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland
  • Find this author on Google Scholar
  • Find this author on PubMed
  • Search for this author on this site
Jean-Claude Karasi
kMinistry of Health, National Reference Laboratory, Kigali, Rwanda
  • Find this author on Google Scholar
  • Find this author on PubMed
  • Search for this author on this site
Snjezana Zidovec Lepej
lUniversity Hospital for Infectious Diseases, Zagreb, Croatia
  • Find this author on Google Scholar
  • Find this author on PubMed
  • Search for this author on this site
Maja M. Lunar
dUniversity of Ljubljana, Institute of Microbiology and Immunology, Ljubljana, Slovenia
  • Find this author on Google Scholar
  • Find this author on PubMed
  • Search for this author on this site
Odette Mukabayire
kMinistry of Health, National Reference Laboratory, Kigali, Rwanda
  • Find this author on Google Scholar
  • Find this author on PubMed
  • Search for this author on this site
Rob Schuurman
mUniversity Medical Center Utrecht, Utrecht, Netherlands
  • Find this author on Google Scholar
  • Find this author on PubMed
  • Search for this author on this site
Janez Tomažič
dUniversity of Ljubljana, Institute of Microbiology and Immunology, Ljubljana, Slovenia
  • Find this author on Google Scholar
  • Find this author on PubMed
  • Search for this author on this site
Kristel Van Laethem
nClinical and Epidemiological Virology, Rega Institute for Medical Research, KU Leuven, Leuven, Belgium
  • Find this author on Google Scholar
  • Find this author on PubMed
  • Search for this author on this site
Linos Vandekerckhove
fAIDS Reference Laboratory, Ghent University, Ghent, Belgium
  • Find this author on Google Scholar
  • Find this author on PubMed
  • Search for this author on this site
Annemarie M. J. Wensing
mUniversity Medical Center Utrecht, Utrecht, Netherlands
  • Find this author on Google Scholar
  • Find this author on PubMed
  • Search for this author on this site
Y.-W. Tang
Roles: Editor
  • Find this author on Google Scholar
  • Find this author on PubMed
  • Search for this author on this site
DOI: 10.1128/JCM.02461-13
  • Article
  • Figures & Data
  • Info & Metrics
  • PDF
Loading

Article Figures & Data

Figures

  • Tables
  • FIG 1
    • Open in new tab
    • Download powerpoint
    FIG 1

    Comparisons among viral load assays. (A and B) Shown is the correlation of the TaqMan assays with either the Amplicor assay (A) or the RealTime assay (B). Comparisons involving TaqMan version 1 are shown with filled gray circles, while those involving TaqMan version 2 are shown with open squares. The R2 values for all correlations are shown in the legends. (C to F) The bottom four panels show Bland-Altman difference plots comparing different viral load assays. Shown are comparisons of the Amplicor assay with the TaqMan version 1 (C) or version 2 (D) assay and of the RealTime assay with the TaqMan version 1 (E) or version 2 (F) assay. The bias (mean difference between the assays) is shown as a solid horizontal line, and the 95% limits of agreement are shown with dashed lines at ±1.96 standard deviations.

  • FIG 2
    • Open in new tab
    • Download powerpoint
    FIG 2

    Proportion of samples with <50 copies/ml by the Amplicor assay as a function of the TaqMan version 1 or version 2 assay. The proportion of samples with Amplicor results of <50 copies/ml decreased at higher TaqMan version 1 and version 2 strata. (A) Proportion of samples with undetectable viral loads by the Amplicor assay (<50 copies/ml) as a function of the viral load reported by the TaqMan version 1 assay. (B) Similar plot as in panel A but as a function of the viral load reported by the TaqMan version 2 assay. For both TaqMan assays, when either had a viral load result of up to 100 copies/ml, a majority of the corresponding samples were actually undetectable by the Amplicor assay.

Tables

  • Figures
  • TABLE 1

    Correlation coefficients for interassay comparisons at viral loads of <1,000 copies/mla

    Assay detection (at <1,000 copies/ml)Correlation coefficients of discordant results of ≥1,000 copies/ml
    AmplicorRealTimeTaqMan v1TaqMan v2
    AmplicorNAb0.520.85
    RealTimeNA0.740.82
    TaqMan v10.450.540.69
    TaqMan v20.800.780.68
    • ↵a Correlation coefficients of the interassay comparisons were calculated using the results with a restriction of at least one viral load assay giving a result of <1,000 copies/ml. The assay restricted to <1,000 copies/ml is shown in the left-hand column, and its comparator assay is indicated in the columns. For example, when TaqMan v1 was restricted to values of <1,000 copies/ml, the matching Amplicor test results had an R value of 0.45. Conversely, when the Amplicor test was restricted to <1,000 copies/ml, the matching TaqMan v1 results had an R value of 0.52.

    • ↵b NA, not available.

  • TABLE 2

    Discordance for HIV-1 RNA levels at <50 copies/ml

    Assay (at <50 copies/ml)% discordant results of ≥50 copies/ml (no. of discordant samples/total no. of samples)a
    AmplicorRealTimeTaqMan v1TaqMan v2
    AmplicorNA73 (598/819)6 (10/172)
    RealTimeNA27 (63/230)13 (73/569)
    TaqMan v111 (27/248)23 (49/216)24 (50/206)
    TaqMan v25 (8/170)7 (40/356)25 (51/207)
    • ↵a Shown are the percentages of results that were discordant between the assays at a threshold of 50 copies/ml. NA, not available.

  • TABLE 3

    Discordance for HIV-1 RNA levels at <200 copies/mla

    Assay (at <200 copies/ml)% discordant results of ≥200 copies/ml (no. of discordant samples/total no. of samples)
    AmplicorRealTimeTaqMan v1TaqMan v2
    AmplicorNA5 (58/1,161)3 (7/204)
    RealTimeNA10 (37/356)7 (49/728)
    TaqMan v17 (85/1,188)16 (59/378)7 (25/236)
    TaqMan v23 (7/204)3 (22/701)1 (3/314)
    • ↵a Shown are the percentages of results that were discordant between the assays at a threshold of 200 copies/ml. The percentage of discordant samples decreased for all comparisons when a threshold of 200 copies/ml was used, compared to a 50-copies/ml threshold. NA, not available.

PreviousNext
Back to top
Download PDF
Citation Tools
Comparative Performances of HIV-1 RNA Load Assays at Low Viral Load Levels: Results of an International Collaboration
Luke C. Swenson, Bryan Cobb, Anna Maria Geretti, P. Richard Harrigan, Mario Poljak, Carole Seguin-Devaux, Chris Verhofstede, Marc Wirden, Alessandra Amendola, Jurg Boni, Thomas Bourlet, Jon B. Huder, Jean-Claude Karasi, Snjezana Zidovec Lepej, Maja M. Lunar, Odette Mukabayire, Rob Schuurman, Janez Tomažič, Kristel Van Laethem, Linos Vandekerckhove, Annemarie M. J. Wensing on behalf of the International Viral Load Assay Collaboration
Journal of Clinical Microbiology Jan 2014, 52 (2) 517-523; DOI: 10.1128/JCM.02461-13

Citation Manager Formats

  • BibTeX
  • Bookends
  • EasyBib
  • EndNote (tagged)
  • EndNote 8 (xml)
  • Medlars
  • Mendeley
  • Papers
  • RefWorks Tagged
  • Ref Manager
  • RIS
  • Zotero
Print

Alerts
Sign In to Email Alerts with your Email Address
Email

Thank you for sharing this Journal of Clinical Microbiology article.

NOTE: We request your email address only to inform the recipient that it was you who recommended this article, and that it is not junk mail. We do not retain these email addresses.

Enter multiple addresses on separate lines or separate them with commas.
Comparative Performances of HIV-1 RNA Load Assays at Low Viral Load Levels: Results of an International Collaboration
(Your Name) has forwarded a page to you from Journal of Clinical Microbiology
(Your Name) thought you would be interested in this article in Journal of Clinical Microbiology.
CAPTCHA
This question is for testing whether or not you are a human visitor and to prevent automated spam submissions.
Share
Comparative Performances of HIV-1 RNA Load Assays at Low Viral Load Levels: Results of an International Collaboration
Luke C. Swenson, Bryan Cobb, Anna Maria Geretti, P. Richard Harrigan, Mario Poljak, Carole Seguin-Devaux, Chris Verhofstede, Marc Wirden, Alessandra Amendola, Jurg Boni, Thomas Bourlet, Jon B. Huder, Jean-Claude Karasi, Snjezana Zidovec Lepej, Maja M. Lunar, Odette Mukabayire, Rob Schuurman, Janez Tomažič, Kristel Van Laethem, Linos Vandekerckhove, Annemarie M. J. Wensing on behalf of the International Viral Load Assay Collaboration
Journal of Clinical Microbiology Jan 2014, 52 (2) 517-523; DOI: 10.1128/JCM.02461-13
del.icio.us logo Digg logo Reddit logo Twitter logo CiteULike logo Facebook logo Google logo Mendeley logo
  • Top
  • Article
    • ABSTRACT
    • INTRODUCTION
    • MATERIALS AND METHODS
    • RESULTS
    • DISCUSSION
    • ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
    • FOOTNOTES
    • REFERENCES
  • Figures & Data
  • Info & Metrics
  • PDF

Related Articles

Cited By...

About

  • About JCM
  • Editor in Chief
  • Board of Editors
  • Editor Conflicts of Interest
  • For Reviewers
  • For the Media
  • For Librarians
  • For Advertisers
  • Alerts
  • RSS
  • FAQ
  • Permissions
  • Journal Announcements

Authors

  • ASM Author Center
  • Submit a Manuscript
  • Article Types
  • Resources for Clinical Microbiologists
  • Ethics
  • Contact Us

Follow #JClinMicro

@ASMicrobiology

       

ASM Journals

ASM journals are the most prominent publications in the field, delivering up-to-date and authoritative coverage of both basic and clinical microbiology.

About ASM | Contact Us | Press Room

 

ASM is a member of

Scientific Society Publisher Alliance

 

American Society for Microbiology
1752 N St. NW
Washington, DC 20036
Phone: (202) 737-3600

 

Copyright © 2021 American Society for Microbiology | Privacy Policy | Website feedback

Print ISSN: 0095-1137; Online ISSN: 1098-660X