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Updated: Jul 7, 2026
Amplifying and Quantifying HIV-1 RNA in HIV Infected Individuals with Viral Loads Below the Limit of Detection by Standard Clinical Assays
Published on: September 26, 2011
HIV-1 DNA load analysis in peripheral blood lymphocytes and monocytes from naïve and HAART-treated individuals
Davide Gibellini1, Marco Borderi, Elisa De Crignis
1Department of Clinical and Experimental Medicine, Microbiology Section, University of Bologna, Via Massarenti 9, 40138 Bologna, Italy. davide.gibellini@unibo.it
Objective:
To evaluate HIV-1 DNA load in PBLs and monocytes from both long-term HAART-treated and antiretroviral naïve HIV-1 infected patients.
Methods:
Cross-sectional quantitative analysis of HIV-1 DNA load was performed in PBLs and monocytes, purified from 34 long-term HAART-treated and 34 naïve HIV-1 infected patients, and compared to RNA viral load and CD4+ cell count.
Results:
HAART-treated patients showed significantly lower levels of viral DNA both in PBLs and monocytes in comparison with naïve individuals. Variable levels of HIV-1 DNA amount in monocytes were detected in all naïve patients but only in 12 of 34 HAART-treated individuals. PBLs HIV-1 DNA load was inversely correlated to CD4+ cell count in naïve and HAART-treated patients whereas no association was detected in monocytes.
Conclusions:
Long-term HAART decreased HIV-1 DNA load in PBLs and monocytes demonstrating a valuable inhibitor effect, especially in short-lived reservoirs. In addition, the positive correlation of DNA burden between PBLs and monocytes may suggest a dynamic relation between these reservoirs in the course of disease. HIV-1 DNA load quantitative analysis in PBLs and monocytes may be considered an important approach to study the HIV-1 reservoir and the effectiveness of HAART therapy in HIV-1 seropositive patients.
