Evaluación de un nuevo método de cuantificación de carga viral de VIH-2 en los pacientes de la cohorte española de infección por VIH-2

Abstract

The human immunodeficiency virus type two (HIV-2) is present in more than 1 or 2 million people around the world. Its infection differs from the HIV-1 infection due to the lower rate of disease, genomic diversity and therapeutic differences in efficacy. Most of the viral load quantification assays have been developed considering genetic characteristics of HIV-1 viruses. At this moment, “in-house” methods are used for the quantification of the HIV-2 viremia in patients infected with this virus. HIV-2 quantitation is essential to monitor infection and to evaluate efficacy of antiretroviral therapy. The aim of this work was to evaluate a new commercial method for the quantitation of the HIV-2 viral load. The assay is commercialized by Biocentric as “Generic HIV-2 charge virale”. A total of 73 samples were selected to be measured with the new assay. These samples were previously quantified with an “in house” RT-PCR assay currently used for the quantitation of HIV-2 viral load in the HIV-2 Spanish Cohort. The new assay amplifies the LTR and gag region from the HIV-2 genome. The overall concordance between these two methods was acceptable with a mean difference of -0.42 log. For the subtype A this mean difference was -0.37 log, and for the subtype B was -0.67 log. In conclusion, the new assay, “Generic HIV-2 charge virale” could be used for the quantitation of HIV-2 viral load with a best performance for HIV-2 subtype A.