Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jan 5, 2026
Author Spotlight: Cryopreservation of Whole Blood Samples for High Throughput Analysis
Published on: February 23, 2024
HIV infection and frequency of micronucleus in human peripheral blood cells
A Zizza1, P Grima2, M G Andreassi3
1Institute of Clinical Physiology, National Research Council, Lecce, Italy.
Purpose:
People living with HIV have higher rates of malignancies than the general population in the era of active antiretroviral therapy (ART). Genotoxic effects of HIV infection and/or ART that can induce neoplastic development are not yet well known. A prospective cohort study to investigate DNA damage measured through the micronuclei (MN) frequency in HIV-patients has been performed.
Methods:
Peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) were isolated from 52 HIV-patients treated with ART and 55 healthy controls.
Results:
By the comparison of MN frequency, a significant difference between HIV-patients (15.5 ± 9.8) and controls (6.0 ± 3.6) (p < 0.001) has been revealed. In univariate linear regression analysis, HCV infection (r = 0.31; p < 0.001), HIV-RNA (r = 0.29; p < 0.03) and duration of infection (r = - 0.16; p < 0.25) were associated with MN frequency; while only viral load (VL) significantly correlates (r = 0.29; p < 0.05) in a multiple regression model.
Conclusions:
The association of VL with MN frequency supports a genotoxic effect of HIV infection.
