Longitudinal Quantification of Human Immunodeficiency Virus Type 1 DNA and RNA in Long-Term Nonprogressors

• Published in: The Journal of infectious diseases Vol. 179; no. 6; pp. 1542 - 1548
• Main Authors: Broström, Christina, Visco-Comandini, Ubaldo, Yun, Zhibing, Sönnerborg, Anders
• Format: Journal Article Conference Proceeding
• Language: English
• Published: Chicago, IL University Chicago Press 01-06-1999; University of Chicago Press; Oxford University Press
• Subjects: AIDS/HIV; Biological and medical sciences; Blood plasma; Concise Communications; DNA; DNA, Viral - blood; HIV 1; HIV Infections - blood; HIV Infections - mortality; HIV Infections - virology; HIV Long-Term Survivors; HIV-1 - isolation & purification; Human immunodeficiency virus 1; Human viral diseases; Humans; Inclusion bodies; Infections; Infectious diseases; Leukocytes, Mononuclear - virology; Longitudinal Studies; Medical sciences; Medicin och hälsovetenskap; Quantification; RNA; RNA, Viral - blood; T lymphocytes; Viral diseases; Viral diseases of the lymphoid tissue and the blood. Aids; Viruses; Human; Immunopathology; RNA; HIV-1 virus; Retroviridae; AIDS; Immune deficiency; Lentivirus; Long term; Infection; Virus; Follow up study; Viral disease; DNA; Evolution; Human immunodeficiency virus; Viral load; Quantitative analysis
• ISSN: 0022-1899; 1537-6613
• DOI: 10.1086/314757

Twenty patients with human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) infection for > 7 years, no HIV-1—related symptoms, no treatment, and CD4+ cell counts 1> 500/μL were included in a prospective study in 1993. Four years later, 12 patients had progressed (SPs), while 8 had not (long-term nonprogressors [LTNPs]). At inclusion, HIV-1 RNA, but not DNA, levels were higher in SPs. During follow-up, a consistent increase in HIV-1 RNA was seen in only 1 LTNP. In 2 LTNPs, plasma viremia was persistently undetectable or < 110 copies/mL. Infectious virus was isolated from only 1 LTNP and from 11 SPs. In 4 LTNPs, HIV-1 DNA levels decreased spontaneously with time. The restricted viral replication and the declining HIV-1 DNA levels suggest that the HIV-1 infection can be controlled efficiently in a few LTNPs, leading to a decrease in the total virus burden with time.