Performance characteristics of the TRUGENE HIV-1 Genotyping Kit and the Opengene DNA Sequencing System

The TRUGENE HIV-1 Genotyping Kit and OpenGene DNA Sequencing System are designed to sequence the protease (PR)- and reverse transcriptase (RT)-coding regions of human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) pol. Studies were undertaken to determine the accuracy of this assay system in detecting resistance-associated mutations and to determine the effects of RNA extraction methods, anticoagulants, specimen handling, and potentially interfering substances. Samples were plasma obtained from HIV-infected subjects or seronegative plasma to which viruses derived from wild-type and mutant infectious molecular clones (IMC) of HIV-1 were added. Extraction methods tested included standard and UltraSensitive AMPLICOR HIV-1 MONITOR, QIAGEN viral RNA extraction mini kit, and QIAGEN Ultra HIV extraction kit, and NASBA manual HIV-1 quantitative NucliSens. Sequence data from test sites were compared to a "gold standard" reference sequence to determine the percent agreement. Comparisons between test and reference sequences at the nucleotide level showed 97.5 to 100% agreement. Similar results were obtained regardless of extraction method, regardless of use of EDTA or acid citrate dextrose as anticoagulant, and despite the presence of triglycerides, bilirubin, hemoglobin, antiretroviral drugs, HIV-2, hepatitis C virus (HCV), HBV, cytomegalovirus, human T-cell leukemia virus type 1 (HTLV-1), or HTLV-2. Samples with HIV-1 RNA titers of >or=1,000 copies/ml gave consistent results. The TRUGENE HIV-1 Genotyping Kit and OpenGene DNA Sequencing System consistently generate highly accurate sequence data when tested with IMC-derived HIV and patient samples.